Kill Marine

[MasterHQ]

Just a thought I had this evening.  Here it is, the mental vomit (read: uneditted) version.

 

----

 

Its never good when one man is sent to stall an army. Either the one man is an army in his own right, or else he is little more than a complete liability.

 

In the case of Brother Amissio, the question could have been debated, and though the discussion could rage onward, no satisfactory answer could be given. Amissio, a talented killer, was also very much a pariah.

 

He wore only Astartes scout armor, and that was enamelled a dull, flat black. His left arm, what of it was armored at least, was cased in rune-inscribed silver, indicating his status as Deathwatch. His right pauldron, which should have borne the iconography of his home chapter, was the same simple, flat black as the rest of his armor. Therein lay the secret of his casting off, the reason that he would be sent to stop an army single-handedly.

 

Amissio was a black shield. Something buried deep in his past caused him to turn from his home chapter, his gene-brothers and the heritage he had been gifted as a son of the Emperor himself, and give his entire life to the Deathwatch. Was it betrayal? Treachery? Disgrace? None knew, and in Deathwatch, none would ask.

 

It was why Amissio had come.

 

Now he was here, on this forlorn world. A lone marine, a Kill-Marine. He was the nearest thing to a one man army that the Imperium of Man could muster. He had one purpose here: stop the Xenos Tau as they encroached further into the Jericho reach.

 

He lay patiently on a ridge, his face obscured from his upper lip to the two service studs in his forehead by a pair of magnoculars that tracked the plethora of targets below, but were specifically keyed to identify particular symbols. Xenos symbols, ones that would denote a leader. Amissio had been on the ridge overlooking the small Tau base for three days and nights now, waiting patiently for the right shot. He had been discreet thus far, and avoided three drone patrols each day, and one patrol of foot soldiers. It had been easy, as he had employed a rare masking screen, using the stealth technology of the hated Xenos against them. He had not even needed to move. For three days he had lain, not sleeping, his Stalker pattern boltgun not wavering an inch.

 

He checked the magazine again. How many times? Did it matter? It only mattered that when the time came the kraken round would discharge properly.

 

The magnoculars reacted.

 

There, near the centre of the army base, a figure wearing the bizzare, oversized flying armor that these Xenos favored for their elites. On his shoulder, Amissio confirmed the markings. It was the leader. He slid the magnoculars up, off his face, and lowered his cheek to the telescopic sight on his boltgun. He carefully drew bead on the Xenos ugly blue head. He exhaled.

 

From three quarters of a kilometre away, Amissio squeezed the trigger.

[deathspectersgt7]

And!!?.Please continue.

[Olis]

Interesting brain fart, brother. Perhaps this is a snippet and nothing more, or it could be the start of something. I've had many of those myself. I wouldn't mind seeing where the next one takes you. ;)

[MasterHQ]

Brain Fart #2

----

 

The shot was true - they always were.  Perhaps that was why Deathwatch had dispatched one man to stop an army.

 

The kraken bolt, so small a cylinder, would spell the end of this Xenos campaign on this poor, backwater world.  Amissio had aimed to place the bolt exactly in the centre of the Xenos' armoured forehead.  But at the last second the Xenos had ever so slightly adjusted his posture, and the Emperor smiled the smile that ended the enemies of man.  The bolt took the Xenos commander in the faceplate, exactly where his wretched eye ought to be.  The condensed adamantine round smashed through the armour as though it wasn't even there, lifting its victim off his feet and hurtling him backward even as it exploded from inside the target's brain, judging by the soft pulp and gore that blew from the Xeno's shattered helmet.

 

Amissio permitted himself a grim smile.  Killing did not bring him pleasure.  Such a thing was far too close to the province of the Great Enemy for Amissio's taste.  Duty, however, Amissio found to be most satisfying.

 

The Tau base below him burst into sudden activity, and chaos reigned for a few minutes as the Xenos realized that their leader had been assassinated.  Several began pointing up the ridge where Amissio lay obscured, having correctly surmised his location.  Many were grabbing up weapons and preparing to come to him.

 

It did not bother Amissio in the slightest.  He was well aware of two things: First, not all of his enemies below could fly.  They would have to take the long way up the cliff if they wished to confront him.  Second, those who could fly would not expect that he would take the short route down.

 

Amissio mag-locked his Stalker and jumped off the cliff.

 

His harness line whizzed through is loops and restraints, spooling out as he fell dangerously quickly.  He needed to get down before the Xenos could get to the cliff.  Scant meters from the ground he stopped his fall, catching the rope before cutting it with a combat knife.  He hit the ground running.  Toward enemy lines.

[Olis]

Far be it from me to influence your noggin toots but... please tell me he has something suitably awesome tucked away for hand-to-hand. A chain-knife, for example...

[Machine God]

Or a Spoon?

[Anver Cassiel]

These two were awesome reads, short and concise but very descriptive. Nicely done

[deathspectersgt7]

a p39!!!

[MasterHQ]

So I find that what began as a brain fart and total idea dumping has actually morphed into a real concept in my head...I suppose now I shall have to incorporate Brother Amissio into my Deathwatch games...

----

Fortunately the valley beneath the cliff was relatively well covered in brush.

 

Amissio knew his enemy.  It would take nearly 7 minutes for the fastest of them to cover the ground to the cliff, and perhaps minutes more to locate where he, the shooter, had been.  Amissio couldn't count on those extra minutes.  His own run pace would take nearly 8 minutes to reach the Tau base.  Three minutes into his run he hit the brush and covered himself, allowing his rudimentary cloaking field to finish the disguise. 

 

Nearly a minute passed, and then the first noise of the others could be heard.  Running through the brush, or in some cases hoverin above it, the Tau began to filter past.  Amissio counted the minutes.  He knew he would have a maximum of three minutes before the troops returned to the Xenos base, and he needed to be gone from there before they arrived.

 

No matter how talented a one man army he was, against those odds he would be entirely dead, and the frontline invasion force would be merely slowed until a new commander was chosen.  If one hadn't been chosen already.

 

Amissio made his move, bursting from his cover and sprinting like a madman.  The Tau soldiers had moved past him.  They were perhaps a minute away from the cliff face.  Amissio didn't care to sacrifice the time to look. 

 

As he ran he flicked the fire selector on his bolter over to the Stalker rounds.  Closer range, much quieter.  He drew his combat knife and clicked the hilt into a receptacle on his wrist.  Unlike traditional combat blades, this one was triangular and double-edged.  It also had circuitry for conducting a power field built into it, though it was too small to support such a field.  The receptacle hummed as he activated it, and the power wrist-blade responded in kind.

 

With his left hand he checked the package secured tightly to his back.  4 sets of cluster mines and two demolition charges.  Six motion sensitive triggers.  One screamer.

 

Amissio closed on the Tau base, certain that by now it was discovered that he was not on the cliff.  The Xenos would have found his rope and would know that he was in the valley somewhere.  They would be minutes behind him.

 

Amissio paused by a tree that was a mere fifty meters from the Tau perimeter.  He unslung the package at his back and took out two sets of cluster mines.  Working quickly, with practiced hands, he seeded an area approximately four meters square with the mines, then linked both sets to a single motion sensor.  The screamer he buried slightly among the roots of the tree, then set the motion sensor near it.  He ran from the site.

 

The screamer detected his motion and its alarm activated.

 

A single, unsilenced gunshot rang out from the modified screamer.

 

Amission knew to expect sentries at the base.  It was a near wonder that he hadn't detected any yet.  But now those sentries would be marching right into a mine field.

[Teetengee]

ooh

[deathspectersgt7]

likey

[MasterHQ]

Thanks to everyone who likes this.  Your encouragement, I think, is partly responsible for keeping it alive and making it more than just a one-off story.

 

----

The Xenos base was a collection of pre-fab wareouse structures operating as battlefield facilities.  Mess hall, barracks, command post, communications centre, vehicle hangar, armory.  The whole facility was arranged like wheels on a spoke, with the communications centre at the middle of the base.  The entire operation was surrounded by some sort of Xenos energy fence.  The fence was eight feet tall, made up of posts that were eight feet apart with crackling seams of blue energy flashing in erratic patterns between them.

 

Amissio didn't need to touch the fence to know at the very least with would be incredibly painful.

 

The Kill Marine circled the base, still moving at a full sprint, in a direction opposite the main gate.  That was where the Xenos sentries would be exiting hopefully, to search for the rigged screamer. 

 

With only a few minutes left until the Xenos return to their base, Amissio slid to a stop by one of the fence posts.  Taking a deep breath, he jabbed his punching blade into the post.

 

The post erupted in a brilliant shower of burning blue sparks.  Amissio gritted his teeth against he pain, and wished, briefly, that he had his MKVI power armour instead of the Astartes Scout armour he currently wore.  With a jerk, Amissio pushed his blade through the remainder of the post and the blinding fountain of sparks ended, and with it a section of the energy fence.

 

As it died the fence post let out a wailing howl of a siren blast.

 

So much for luring the Xenos out with his screamer.  Amissio had not expected that.

 

Time was even more essential.  The Xenos would be coming.

 

Amissio had picked a section of fence that was behind the vehicle hangar.  Working quickly, with all pretense of subtlety gone in the wake of the siren, Amissio planted a krak grenade against the wall and counted seconds.  The grenade blew, opening up a section of the wall like it was made of paper.  The structures were obviously temporary.  Amissio slipped through the ragged gap and looked up at the slumbering behemoths within.  There were two tanks, one mounting a tremendous long cannon, the other with myriad missiles loaded under upper fins.

 

Selecting the missile mounting war machine, Amissio approached with rapid caution.  He identified the vents at the rear of the tank.  Though he did not know much about Xenos tech, he took an educated guess that these vents were somehow connected to the engine, and through that mysterious drive mechanism, to the fuel cells, whatever form they would take.  With a slash and twist of his punching blade, Amissio opened up the vent and with practiced hands planted the demolition charge, carefully wiring it to a proximity detector.  The Xenos would find his trail of destruction, they would come to investigate, and in a single, poetic moment, their presence would destroy a large portion of the advance war effort.

 

Amissio turned to the front door of the vehicle hangar.  He had one stop left to make.  With stealth abandoned, he hefted his bolter and began to move.

[Olis]

Couple of errors in this one, brother (I've marked them in red):

 

The whole facility was arranges like wheels on a spoke, with the communications centre at the middle of the base.  

 

The fence was eight feet tall, made up of posts that were eight feet apart with crackling seams of blue energy flashing in erratic pattersn between them.

 

The Kill Marine circled the base, still moving at a full sprint, in a direction opposite the main gate.  That was where the Xenos sentries would be exitingm hopefully, to search for the rigged screamer. 

[MasterHQ]

Thanks. I will correct them tonight. Problem with writing at midnight.

[Furious Retreat]

Me like.