After what feels like an eternity aboard the Victory, Blood and Thunder (or the long version, the 114th Cadian mechanized infantry regiment) have finally arrived at our goal - Virbius. Apparently this is a planet in the Calixis Sector that recently appeared after being lost in a warp storm.
Sergeant Mordecai tells us our target are a bunch of dangerous heretics called the Severin Dominate that have refused the glorious light of the God-Emperor. Personally I would have preferred to stay on Cadia kick some warp scum ass (preferably some small ones to start with...), but obviously we do what we're told. The Departmento Munitorum would not send us away without good reason, so I assume these Severin guys pose a grave threat and are in serious need of a meet and greet with a hail of autocannon bullets.
We are to meet up with the Maccabian Janissaries' 37th regiment, who apparently have fucked shit up but good. The sarge says they had the upper hand on the infidels, but the Lord-General decided to wait on reinforcement to make sure victory was a given. In the mean time the Doms (as I've taken to calling the Severin Dominate) got up to some heretical shit and bounced back. Or something to that effect. Either way, we're now in a stalemate and they need the help of the glorious Cadian 114th, aka the best guardsmen in the Empire. I'm excited to fight alongside our holy brothers - they actually live on Maccabia!
The deployment goes well, and we land on a planet that, to be fair, looks a lot better than Cadia. Gently rolling hills, a nice sun and balmy temperatures greet us as we exit. Needless to say, we speed away to our base in our Chimera to beat those dirty bastards in the fifth squad. Equally needless to say, we win. The base is huge, compromised entirely of plasteel containers. Quick and dirty. We see a lot of wounded being treated. Nothing any of us Cadians haven't seen before of course, and the injuries seem normal.
Around five minutes after arriving, the sarge is called away. A few minutes later he comes back and informs us that we have our first mission already. We're to report to forward operating base Epsilon 12, a good four hours away. The sarge from the fifth passes by on their way into camp, and of course Mordecai gets into it with him about our kill count. Seriously, I think he'd kill one of us if it meant securing victory...guy gives me the chills. At least he seems decently competent at his job. We'll see how he pans out in the field..
Epsilon 12
We get the chimera ready and roll out. The terrain we pass through is mostly more of the same, fairly untouched by battle, just by wheel tracks. We get to Ep 12 without incident. The sarge and big sis head off the see the CO, while the rest of us chill out for the time being. After all this time aboard the Victory I gotta say, I'm excited to be up and about!
The sarge gets back and breaks it down. Apparently we're going on a guerrilla mission of sorts. Huh. Not the type of thing you usually see Cadian IG doing. Anyways, this is what's what on operation Hammerfall:
- General info: the Janns have been stuck here for a few months, taking heavy casualties. The advance grinded to a halt a few months ago. Apparently the enemy's gotten hold of some unholy weapons, entire platoons of ours have been wiped off the map or simply disappeared.
- The CO of Ep 12 is colonel Raxe Garn, a grizzled old Jann with 40 years experience.
- Our primary mission is the capture or kill of the enemy's general, Harvax Scarrus. He's located somewhere in a mountain range behind enemy lines.
- The secondary mission is to disrupt enemy supply lines and kill anyone we encounter.
- The tertiary mission is the locate the last squad sent out to get the general. No info given.
- We are to maintain vox silence at all times
Mkay...we're Cadian IG but still kinda green so I dunno, seems like a pretty tall order...but of course, an order's an order and I'm sure (ish) the higher ups know what they're doing. If anyone can do it, it's the 1st of Blood and Thunder!
We prepare to roll out, getting some extra equipment (among them a missile launcher, bwahaha). We notice a few locals arriving on some bikes and enter the colonel's tent. Big sis checks with some of the Janns, apparently they worship an aspect of the God-Emperor and the Ecclesiarchy has deemed this to be a-ok. Good enough for me.
Curiosity gets the better of me, and me and sis roll over to talk to these guys. They speak broken low Gothic, but perfectly understandable. We get some intel on the planet, which is always an advantage. Learned well enough that local knowledge will save your life back when the Chaos warriors hit our village way back when...
Anyway, this is what they tell us:
- The planet is plagued by apparently random lightning storms. If your hair starts standing up, it's time to HAUL ASS in any random direction to avoid instant vaporization. Not quite as bad as the warp storm back home, but nice to know.
- The mountain range where the general is said to be located is apparently the site of "evil spirits" and is considered off limits to the locals. They don't go into detail.
- The enemy operate in 6-7 man teams. There's "a lot" of them.
- There are abandoned hives on Virbius - the locals stay away from them.
- The locals are organized in nomadic tribes, centered around ancient transports of various sizes. Sounds like Imperial tech by the sound of it, and their bikes sure look like it as well.
We get the bright idea of hiring one of them as a scout, given that they already cooperate with the Janns. The sarge is a bit skeptical, but relents. Given that the clerics say that they're fine, I don't see the problem - aren't we all in the Emperor's light?
Behind enemy lines
We rest up for the day, then head out, with Lorak, son of Kulk, as our guide on his bike. He's satisfied with some rations and a bunch of lho sticks for his services. The first day goes without incident. The second day, however, Lorak speeds back, telling us that there's a team of Doms on the way. The sarge lights up, barking orders to find a place for an ambush. I thank the Emperor for giving us a chance to show our worth and get behind the autocannon.
Everything works out perfectly. The Doms don't spot us, and we slaughter 9 of them without getting a scratch. One is left alive, and the sarge gets to work on his interrogation skills. Unfortunately the Dom seems pretty demented. He insists that it's US who have fallen to Chaos, specifically the Lord-Commander of the Calixian Sector, Hax. THEY are the Empire, and WE are the heretics! Come on buddy...he's never even heard of Cadia or the Cadian IG! He's just a kid and seems scared out of his wits, so it seems like he thinks this is the truth. Obviously his mind has been twisted by his fallen leaders, that's the only explanation I can think of.
For the time being though, we have more pressing concerns - he tells us that the rest of his platoon is but a mere 10-15 minutes away. Taking on an entire platoon seems slightly optimistic (probably?) and is not our primary objective, so we get Lorak to find a route around them and set out. Damn, this is taking a turn for the weird already.
