Delivery at Drop Redoubt

A screech of protesting metal ran through the Belgrave as the ship entered the atmosphere.  The crew mutter prays of protection to the old ship hoping that this was not the time that the metal fatigue and stress fractures would finally give out.  The battered old trump freighter was in desperate need of a full overhaul a situation that had forced YT-75 to accept the simple pick-up and delivery job.  She turned to the members of her crew, the pilot Mandrake, the engineer Shino S, and the master of arms Wells, they all looked concerned.  “This job is easy money, and you know we need it.  We picked up the droid, no problem.  Now, all we have to do is deliver it to the Drop Redoubt.  What could be simpler?”  Wells grunted “This job smells like it is going to go pear shaped real fast, but we will do it the way you want.  But I am not babysitting that piece of junk.”  The droid beeped angrily at the master of arms.

The crew of the Belgrave walked through the strangely empty streets their weapons at the ready.  Unknown to them the port security had been tipped off about their special delivery and had set up an ambush to apprehend them.

Rounding the corner YT-75 spotted a security guard waiting in ambush.  Her wired reflexes kicked in, the bolt-pistol at her hip came up in a blur and she hit the guard with three bolts sending him flying backwards like a rag doll, but not before he had let out a warning.

Hearing the cry of their colleague the other security guards sprang into action.  Their las-gun and auto-gun fire spat out towards the crew of the Belgrave.  Two shots hit YT-75, but she just shrugged them off as if they were nothing. 

Mandrake and YT-75 rushed forward hoping to cut down the ambushers before they could cause too much trouble.  As they closed with their enemy Mandrake was hit by a las-gun round.  The pilot winced in pain but still engaged the port security guard in melee.

YT-75 did not want to waste time dealing with this nuisance, so she shot the guard facing her in the leg and laid him out with a right hook. Mandrake blasted away at his opponent with his las-pistol, two shots hit the guard, but the shots were absorbed by the ablative armour that the guard wore.

The port security officer decided that his position was a little too vulnerable and decided to pull back and join the second group of waiting security guards. His retreat was spurred on by the full-automatic fire that was directed at him.

While YT-75 and Mandrake were held to a stalemate in the melee with the heavily armoured guard Shino S, and Wells moved forward.  Their combined fire both struck the waiting security guard, but neither of their shots managed to penetrate his protective clothing.  His return fire was much more accurate striking Wells in the head.  The shot opened a deep gash in Wells` forehead only the helmet he wore saved him from a fatal wound.

Shino S dashed forward zigzagging to close the range with the sniper.  Shots whizzed around her, but thanks to Wells` covering fire she reached cover without being hit.  In the melee both YT-75 and Mandrake scored multiple hits on the guard facing them, but their blows bounced off him. In response, the guard caught YT-75 with the butt of his las-gun smashing out some of her teeth.

Sensing that they had the advantage the second group of port security started to come to the aid of their beleaguered colleague.  The sniper sight Shino S as she sprinted back to warn the other members of the crew.  Just as she was about to reach the makeshift barricade a las-gun shot hit her in the small of the back and sent her sprawling to the ground.  The engineer pulled herself over the barricade and sent wild shots back at the sniper blood dripping from her wound.

Wiping the blood away from his face Wells looked at Shino. “Do you think that you can hold them off while I deal with this persistent problem that we have?”  Shino S, smiled at him “I am sure that I can keep them busy for a while.”  Wells pulled out his knife and joined the fray with guard that had kept YT-75, and Mandrake at bay.  Wells` knife struck the guard twice but the blows bounced ineffectively off the guard`s armour. But as the guard turned to face Wells, YT-75 unloaded clip of her bolt-pistol into the guard.  The powerful rounds finally punching their way through the carapace of protection that saved the guard countless times already.

YT-75 looked at her battered and injured crew.  She was not going to risk their lives for any job regardless of the pay. They would have to try and make the delivery on a different day.

 

Search at Snargate

It had taken Gudrun Ure two months to get the data that Snay Black had left at Maxton for her decrypted.  Two months in which she had been hounded around the Cantwara sector by the Arbites, and the Inquisition.  The data that she had hoped would help her bring down the corrupt administration had turned out to be one name, Argos Cannon.  A man that she discovered had been subjected to servitor conversion and had been reported killed in a firefight with the Volkstan at Aycliffe.  More time elapsed than she cared to admit before reports came to her that his damaged remains had been salvaged and were located on a farmstead at Snargate.

Not having an exact location for the remains Gudrun, Bowen, and Zilog-80 spread out.  Bowen took out his bio-scanner and started to calibrate it to Cannon`s bio-pattern.

Argos Cannon`s bio-pattern was hard to tie down with all the background signals caused by the local flora and fauna.  While Bowen tried to clarify the pattern Zilog-80 headed to the farm building to see if he could find any mention of Cannon there.

After a lot of cursing Bowen was finally able to locate Cannon`s position.  The damaged servitor was half buried in a pile of junk.  Bowen cleared some of the debris away from the cyborg and started to pull the data from Cannon`s processing core.  Bowen was completely absorbed in his work and did not notice the bio-scanner registering a powerful bio-signal approaching his position until the horror burst out of the ground and start to lope towards him.

Gudrun Ure opened fire on the creature, a Cantwara vulture beak, her las-bolts ricocheting off its carapace.  The creature charged towards Bowen hissing as it snapped its beak in quick succession.  Bowen`s attention was finally pulled away from his work and he opened fire with his las-pistol scoring several hits but having the same effect as Gudrun`s shots.  Swearing to himself Bowen pulled free his chainsword and met the creature in melee.  The two combatants were evenly matched Bowen cut deep into the creature’s flank as its beak took a chunk out of his shoulder.

The creature let out a raspy drawn-out hiss in pain and launched itself at Bowen.  He desperately parried, but even his prowess in combat could not match its animal fury.  The creature lashed out determined to dine on this creature that had hurt it.  One of its hooks got through Bowen`s defences the bow sliced cleanly through his right arm.  The warrior held onto consciousness long enough to see his friends charge into combat against the creature.

A cold rage flowed through Gudrun`s veins she had seen many of her friends killed in her long life, and now she feared that she had lost another. Her weapon was a blur as it moved through the air dismembering and decapitating the vulture beak.

 Zilog-80 rushed to his fallen friend and quickly stabilised his condition.  Bowen`s right arm lay on the floor a ruined mess, but at least he would live.

Zilog-80 looked over at Argos Cannon and saw the servitor starting to reboot it turned to look at Gudrun and spoke in its cold mechanical voice.  “The bio-scanner is registering another strong signal”.  Gudrun shook her head and turned in the direction that the servitor was pointing just in time to see the ground part as a fresh danger reared its ugly head.

Not waiting for the creature to come at her and still burning with cold rage Gudrun charged towards the creature.  The Ambull blinked in confusion its prey did not usually run towards it.  Before the creature could react to this new predicament Gudrun was upon him.  She attacked the creature with the fury of a Valkyrie and the skills born of 4,000 years of warfare even this dread creature feared through out the sector was no match for the millennia old warrior.

 

Arrest at Eyethorne

Arbites Paschal scanned the data sheet as she gunned her Black shadow, the roar of the engine frightened away all the local wildlife.  The data sheet read like a nightmare; the Death Jacks were wanted for more crimes than most of Cantwara ever dreamt of.   She turned to the other members of her patrol “Beech, Broadgate, Minto, we are not sure how many of these bastards are out at Eyethorne we had better ditch the bikes and go in on foot.  If we can catch them unawares, we should be able to reel in a few more of them.”  The other Arbites nodded in agreement.

Seeing four members of the Death Jacks crew standing outside of a cluster of buildings the Arbites decided to spread out and check the area before they moved in for the arrest.

Oblivious to the approach of the lawmen, the Death Jacks stood around sharing a drink with one another.  The ganger members stood talking for a while before Locke and Russell decided to head into the warmth of the hab leaving Anscombe and Rhees to patrol the area.

Paschal gave the signal for herself and Minto to move forward and take down the two remaining Death Jacks.  The two Arbites moved silently forward keeping to the shadows so as not to alert the gang members to their presence.

Paschal came up behind Anscombe and rendered her unconscious with a swift blow from her night stick.  Unfortunately, Rhees heard Arbites Minto as he threw his knock-out grenade and dived into cover opening fire with his auto-pistol.

The staccato sound of Rhees` auto-pistol alerted the other Death Jacks that something was amiss outside, and the gang members grabbed their weapons and rushed to deal with any trouble.

Arbites Beech had been waiting for this moment and he threw his knock-out grenade with pin-point accuracy.  The grenade went off engulfing Russell, Locke, and Ockham in a cloud of gas.  The three gang members coughed and spluttered as they were quickly overcome by the powerful gas.

As some of the Death Jacks were choking on the knock-out gas Minto and Broadgate opened fire on Rhees and cut him to pieces.  The rounds from the two bolt-pistols made his body dance like a rag doll.

The remaining Death Jacks saw that the writing was on the wall and decided that discretion was the better part valour.   They threw down their weapons and surrendered to Paschal.  

The Arbites handcuffed their prisoners and escorted them to the waiting catch wagon.

Building a world on a budget. Part five.

 Building a world on a budget.

For the fifth piece in my terrain building project, I decided to move away from my usual single building projects to some scatter terrain.  Also, unlike my previous terrain building posts I have not made these pieces, but rather they were a lucky find that I have weathered, for them to give good service on my gaming table.

Project five: One-hundred-yen shop shipping containers.

Weathering

The shipping containers were originally designed as stationery tins, but the minute I saw them I thought that they would be perfect for my gaming table.  The first thing that I had to do to get them table ready was to try and dull down their shiny new look. 

I started the weathering process by applying several coats of Vallejo black wash.  I tried to vary how much wash I put on each container, after I received some excellent advice on weathering shipping containers from the OldHammer Facebook group, to give the containers the look of varied age.

As an experiment I decided to try out a brown wash, the wash was a bit thick after I applied it and it looked quite a mess.  So, I tried wiping a lot of the ink off and the finish was quite pleasing. 

To further weather some of the containers I took my hobby knife to some of them and scraped some of the paint away.  I tried to do it in places where the containers may have got damaged in use.  I then experimented with two Vallejo rust effect paints to, again, vary the aged appearance of the containers.  An important lesson that I learnt from using these paints was that the particles in the paints, that give a great rust effect, destroy paint brushes.  Sadly, I did not realise that until I had destroyed one of my good brushes. 

These containers were a nice alternative project that look good on the table and allowed me to experiment with some paints and techniques that I had not used before.  Of course, I ended up buying a few more of the containers than I had planned when I first saw them, but they have already done some sterling service on my table. 

 

Conflict at Clarendon

Inquisitor Tyrannus Grilli looked down at the report submitted by Adept Low a look of anger flashed across his face.  He stabbed the data slate with his index finger. “This will not stand.  Who do these people think they are?  Am I not commanded by the God Emperor to do his work?  These degenerates will have to be taught a lesson.  Captain Fitchett take a platoon of the Vegetables burn their homes to the ground and retrieve the crystal memory fragments that they stole from the research station.”  Captain Fitchett coughed quietly, “I am sorry to report, but the 85^th Astor regiment is spread quite thin right now.  The majority of the regiment is still putting down the rebellion around the capital.  The best we can muster is a demi-section.  A force that would not carry the level of gravitas which you require.” 

Grilli looked at the Imperial guard officer “You are probably right captain.  I will ask the Lord Warden for a squad of his Astartes to reinforce your demi-section. That should be a sufficient force to deal with these degenerates and force them back to the Warren wouldn`t you agree Commissar Kingsland?”  The commissar nodded “That force should be more than sufficient to deal with this nuisance.  Fighting alongside the Wardens of Dubris will be a good chance for the 85^th to demonstrate their mettle to the chosen of the God Emperor. I will be on hand to make sure that the 85^th does not falter.”

Sensing the approach of the Imperial forces, Antonin the Volkstan leader, ordered his warriors to take up defensive positions.

The Vegetables moved forward at a double pace, forgoing the chance to open fire on the Volkstan tribesmen, to take up a better vantage point while the Wardens of Dubris came on, opening fire on the hedgerow.  Brother Frankham found his mark killing one of the defending tribesmen. 

Willson, lashed out with his mind trying to fell Antonin with the power of his mind, but the Volkstan leader easily brushed off the attack by the sanctioned psyker. 

Antonin locked eyes with the sanctioned psyker and channelled the raw energy of the warp into his mind.   Willson screamed as he fell to the ground his mind stolen by the horrors of the warp.  The tribesmen took the psykers screams as a signal and the younger warriors rushed forward eager to close with the imperial forces while the older warriors opened fire with their muskets.

The Volkstan warriors charged headlong into the Vegetables ignoring the fusillade of fire that killed two of their number.  Seeing the youth of the tribe engaging with the Vegetables the older tribesmen focused their fire on the Wardens of Dubris.  Six musket shots slammed into brother Broadley sending him crashing to the ground.  Antonin once more called upon the power of the warp sending an unnatural hurricane to pin the Wardens of Dubris in place.

In the melee, Captain Fitchett was surprised by a blow from his opponent.  The tribesman`s crude weapon broke three of the captain`s ribs.  In response, Fitchett cut the tribesman`s head off.  The raw combat skills of the Volkstan tribesmen were no match for the honed skills of the Vegetables and they were cut down one by one.

Having shaken off the demonic wind the Wardens of Dubris moved forward firing.  The marines shredded the hedgerow where the tribesmen were taking cover with their firepower.  Bolter rounds from Sergeant Fifield and Brother Fuller cut two of the tribesmen into pieces. 

The carnage being wrought by the Imperial forces was too much for the remaining tribesmen and they broke and fled.  As Antonin watched the warriors of his tribe flee, he realised that it was time to call upon his new allies.

The Vegetables were caught completely off guard as a squad of Eldar guardians materialised on their flank.  The Eldar poured fire into the unsuspecting guardsmen taking down four of them including Captain Fitchett.  The remaining Guardsmen resolve held thanks to the presence of Commissar Kingsland.

The Wardens of Dubris swung round to join the firefight and come to the aid of the 85^th.   In the exchange of fire, the Eldar guardian armed with a flamer torched his counterpart in the 85th.  While Commissar Kingsland was able to kill two of the Eldar in return with his bolt-gun, brother Ranaweera`s shuriken catapult failed to take any toll. 

Having delayed the Imperial forces long enough for Antonin to escape the Eldar guardians activated their teleporters and left the field.