Warrender
Rising Legend
Currently suffering longterm absence from the site
Posts: 698
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Post by Warrender on Jun 17, 2014 16:07:08 GMT
A lone figure climbed up the ladder of the trench, hunched over slightly as he raised his hands to his mouth, one hand holding the lighter closely to the cigarette in his mouth, the other cupping his mouth to shield it from the wind as it lit up. He inhaled deeply then stood up straight, looking at the wilderness before him. "God forsaken place" he grumbled to himself.
His attention was drawn by the sound of two of his friends, their heads appearing above the trenchline 5 metres away as they spoke to him loudly. He turned his back on the wilderness to speak with them as they talked about the normal things that you would talk about, girls, how much they hate the trench, girls and so on. "You know what gets me? the young lad in the trench asked "It's why they feel the need to install these stupid power generators when we could ... " he paused, looking up "Do you hear that?"
The lone soldier above the trench looked up in the direction he thought his friend was "nope, your hearing things, I can't hear anything other than your complaining" They all started to laugh, the young man trying to speak up above the laughter as he struggled to compose himself "You know .. you know what they say if there's a whistling sound and you can't hear it?" They laughed again.
The next thing the young man knew he was flying slowly through the air. It all seemed so surreal and in slow motion as his mind tried to make sense of why he was looking at moving sky. He registered heat, then pain streaking from his face to his feet. He barely registered landing and rolling several times on the ground. His mind willed him to look over and slowly he forced his aching body to roll over staring at the huge crater that was once a trench. He didn't understand, he couldn't think, what was that ringing sound running through his ears.
Shell after shell then proceeded to reign down on the section of trench, leaving nothing but smoking ruin in its wake. The young man managed to look back to the sky, his mind finally beginning to process what was going on, long enough to see a shell hurtling down on him.
The second volley of shell fire was no better on the poor trench dwellers, smashing into the small structures and sections of wall and turning them into slag and molten ceremite, detonating the stores of ammunition which ignited nearby soldiers, turning them into human torches. Then came the earthshakers, huge cylinder missiles that embedded themselves deep into the earth before exploding, shaking the ground around them, collapsing what was left of the wall in that area and leaving huge gaps that troops could march through. Under such firepower in a small confined area there was simply nothing left. Many tunnels linking the other area's were ruined, making it difficult for reinforcements to reach the area's without going over top.
With the majority of the wall being destroyed, the trench system destroyed in key locations, weapon emplacements upturned and now the firepower spreading across a wider area, the Army was now ready to advance.
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Post by silence on Jun 17, 2014 21:03:00 GMT
Trask saw the opening seconds after the first shells went down. The wall emplacements were already falling and the trenches were being torn apart. He smiled at the havoc that was already taking place, now was the time to raise that to total chaos for the enemy.
"Ladies, we aint got all day to get in there, so lets go kick these traitors from here to Terra," Trask said into his vox.
The whole of the assault force moved as one, the chimera`s jolting forward, his Sentinels following shortly behind, and the infantry behind that. It was a spectacle to see for the imperials, but a terror for the enemy.
Trask started firing his mounted Autocannon at a heavy bolter emplacement that had started to open up on his men, stitching bullets through the three man crew and destroying the gun entirely. The same was taking place as the chimera gunners poured hundreds of laser rounds into the chaos scum from their multilasers. "This was going to be a total cakewalk if things continued this way," Trask thought as he watched his chimera`s all move to their designated zones. At the moment it seemed nothing could stop the Thracian regiment from decimating the enemy and taking the gate before even the main assault finished their offensive.
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coolyo294
Iconic
Slayer of Demons
Posts: 1,169
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Post by coolyo294 on Jun 18, 2014 2:21:53 GMT
The chimeras drew most of the heretic fire as the infantry advanced towards the trenches. Klaine was glad to see the guns had done their job admirably. Shell craters pocked the once impressive trench line and shattered defensive walls poked from the churned up earth. Most importantly, many of the gun emplacements had been smashed allowing the Thracians to advance relatively unmolested.
That was not to say they arrived without casualties. Men still went down as they charged, scythed apart by stray rounds and explosions. Klaine herself narrowly avoided being killed when a frag missile detonated near the chimera she was advancing behind. But the third and fourth companies fulfilled their duty and kept most enemy fire suppressed.
With bullets whizzing past her head, Klaine was the first of fifth company to reach the trenches. "Come on, men! For the Emperor!" she shouted as she leapt in. A lasbolt just barely grazed her leg as she landed, but a shotgun blast silenced her errant attacker. The heretic soldier collapsed against the wall of the trench missing most of his head. Disciplined shots from her command squad's lasguns quickly put down the man's comrades.
Soon more Thracians began to pour into the trenches. The heretics that remained in the frontline fortifications put up a stiff resistance, but they were simply no match for the numerous and determined guardsmen. Now the front line was in Imperial hands.
Explosions cracked and bullets whistled overhead as Klaine and her squad ducked into a partially collapsed dugout. The back half had been obliterated by an earthshaker shell and hazy light poked in through cracks in the rubble, but it was still well protected enough to serve as a temporary command post. Bassen wasted no time setting up his vox and giving the horn to Klaine.
"Captain Kruger, this is Lieutenant Klaine." she said into the device. "We have secured the beachhead. Casualties so far are minimal but we could use some reinforcements before the heretics get their shit together, over."
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Warrender
Rising Legend
Currently suffering longterm absence from the site
Posts: 698
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Post by Warrender on Jun 18, 2014 11:18:37 GMT
The radio operator flagged down Stark and quickly reported the latest message. Their forces had already begun the advance, far more swiftly than he had anticipated. "Alright then" he said as he nodded to the radio operator who quickly returned to his post. "Keep firing at those towers, at the least it will give our boys a smoke screen to help protect them. I want group two to immediately adjust trajectory further in by 6 degree's, lets take out more trench as they move up. Sergeant, I want you to personally oversee the Earthshakers, keep their firepower even further away to soften up the trenches"
The sergeant nodded and quickstepped towards the set of three Earthshakers, ordering the trajectory change. His voice inaudible over the sounds of gunfire. Stark returned to his table, wanting to be there the moment more news came through.
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Post by Scrazz' on Jun 18, 2014 12:19:41 GMT
The shaking had finally stopped. The chimeras had reached their destinations, and the hatches started to open so they could spill their payload, a company of guardsmen, into the trenches. Racine unholstered his laspistol and jumped out of the chimera, Garnett and Whitehall with the rest of the passangers close behind. He could see first hand the destruction caused by the Artillery. He had to compliment Stark later.
There were still traitor guard in the trenches though, rats were hard to eradicate, and so they needed to killevery last one of them in order to secure a beachhead. He ran ahead, knowing that they would follow him. He jumped down a trench lip and stood face to face with a heretic. Acting on instinct, he shot the man through the face, the lasblast destroying his facial features. Racine drew his powersword as two more enemies came rushing towards him and activated it in one swift motion. His family had paid a swordmaster a great deal of money to tutor the him in the arts of the sword, of which he was more then thankfull. He could safely say he owed his life to that teacher on more then a handfull of occasions.
One of the men attacking him wielded a one handed axe, which Racine cut in half together with the axe-wielder's upper torso, blood spraying a few moments before the powersword had cauturised the wound. The second one was a heavier set man, wielding only his fireweapon with an attached bayonet. He sidestepped the man's attack and countered with a swift stabbing motion through the man's now undefended side, destroying his intestines with the power resonating from the powersword.
He could see a few steps further down the trenchline a lieutenant from 5th Company had already began to set up a command post. He waved his command squad over to follow him and headed for the lieutenant. That position had a frontal view on the fortress's gates, so it appeared to be the perfect spot to set up shop.
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Post by Lord Harrab on Jun 18, 2014 22:25:44 GMT
When the Colonel dropped into the Trenches, Commissar Whitehall split off to oversee another squad, her own sword and knife drawn as she drove the Guardsmen forwards into combat, the Colonel seemed driven enough so she had to ensure his regiment was likewise filled with the Emperor's fury. "Second Platoon, Frag that trench!" She yelled as she ran between Chimeras to get to them, seemingly heedless of the shots that flashed past her. "Purge the filth!" The Guardsmen seemed to rally uder her gaze, huddled around their chimeras as their multi lasers spayed the forifications, and two Gaurdsmen armed with grenade launches spun out of cover to fire, one went over the lip, but the second bounced into the fortification and exploded. Whitehall heard screams. "Into them! Into them!" She called sword held high, "Affix bayonets!" Amidst the gunfire and screams she heard a sound she loved, Loyal Guardsmen affixing their blades in unison. "Armour keep their heads down until we reach the trench Keep your aim high damn you! With me, brave sons of Tharcia, charge! " With a roar, the Platoon sprinted out of their hiding place after the Commissar, shots impacting around them and whizzing past their bodies as they advanced, but it was poorly aimed and rushed and only a few Guardsmen fell. a Traitor oped his head up just as Whitehall reached the trench and she kicked him in the face then fell upon with with bared steel impaling his foul corpse to the boards that lined the trench bottom. ANotehr traitor turned his gun on her, but was dogpiled by a trio of screaming gaurdsmen, their bayonets rising nad falling in bloody arcs as tehy did the Emperor's work. Whitehall quickly took stock as the platoon's survivors piled into teh trench with her, shooting and stabbing any traitor that dared to even twitch. She switched to their platoon channel and ordered them to finish clearing the section of trench and set up flamers at any supply trenches at their Lt's digression. She then switched to the command channel. "This is Whitehall, East trenches secured by First company, Second Platoon, Light casualties, all hostiles eliminated. Fire from wall mounted guns is light and ineffective. We are holding. Out."
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coolyo294
Iconic
Slayer of Demons
Posts: 1,169
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Post by coolyo294 on Jun 19, 2014 4:35:23 GMT
Klaine was barking out orders to her platoon over the vox when the Colonel walked into her impromptu command post. She nearly did a double take before handing the horn back to Bassen, who continued to relay the Lieutenant's words over the network. He was not someone she had expected to run into today. Quickly she stood at attention and snapped off a sharp salute. Normally she would not observe such protocol in the field, but the dugout provided ample cover from any enemy who might spot the high ranked officer so she decided to do it anyway.
"Sir! We have taken the outer trenchline. Casualties are light, but the enemy has stalled us at the communications trenches. The bastards are dug in deep and are probably massing for a counterattack if we can't do something about it."
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Dewin
Overlord
Posts: 776
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Post by Dewin on Jun 19, 2014 23:30:02 GMT
"Roger that, Lieutenant. Try not to die before we get there. Fifth actual out" Kruger gave back the vox horn back to it's operator before returning to observing the battle with binoculars. Battle seemed to be processing just fine although he could see lack of damage on actual wall itself. Well, time to fix that.
Raising up from his position, he gave quick look around him. All around him remaining platoons of his company waited in for the command, eager to put their missiles to use. Placing his binoculars back into his rig, he picked up his shotgun from ground where it had been laying in wait.
"Fifth company left overs, lets go!"
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Post by Darko on Jun 20, 2014 16:13:06 GMT
The first company had been steadily advancing up the flank of the enemy fortifications while the majority of their fire was directed at the Armoured Fist squads commanded by the Colonel and Major. A few errant shots were directed towards them as they advanced, dropping a couple of their number. Their return fire kept the enemies' heads down for the most part, which meant they got relatively close to the trenches without a great deal of difficulty.
When they were within roughly a hundred meters, the familiar ensemble of battle became audible with the termination of the artillery bombardment. The clash of steel, the shouting of men in anger and anguish, the omnipresent snap-crack of lasguns as they were fired from both sides.
The traitors in the trench ahead seemed to finally realise the threat that the five-hundred men approaching presented and the barking orders of a few desperate officers using vox-amplifiers to be heard over the fighting projected enough to reach Captain Black and the men surrounding him.
His command squad of hardened veterans were never more than a pace behind him. They were joined by battle priestess Ludmilla of the Ministorum. The fiery scarlet-haired woman was almost as tall and certainly more ferocious than Black himself, hefting her roaring Eviscerator in two hands with her powerful arms. She was a welcome companion on the battlefield and their ideologies meshed well. The only real difference was that she was filled with fervour for the Emperor, whereas Black simply enjoyed killing His enemies.
Looking over his shoulder, Black surveyed the hundreds of men skulking behind him, several taking pot-shots up the rise to the trenches at the defenders trying to gather strength to protect the undermanned flank while still trying to fend off the assaults on their other fronts. "We're late to the fight, that means I expect each and every one of you sorry excuses for Imperial soldiers to kill ten traitors before the day is over. We've got a bloody good reputation to uphold as the First and Finest and if any of you tarnish that reputation I'll use your useless fucking corpse as a weapon when I run out of ammo. Get moving you gits, we're the Imperial Guard and we're here to build up leg muscle," he shouted.
Turning to face the enemy, he raised his power fist high and let loose the loudest warcry he was capable of as he set off in a sprint towards the enemy. His men took up the call and raced behind their captain. The enemy's gunfire was drowned out by the united primordial noise of the first company, like a wordless chorus to the heavy drum beat of their booted footfalls.
Volleys of lasers arced down the rise, accompanied by the retort of larger weapons such as big stubbers and heavy bolters, scything down scores of Black's men. Several las bolts hit the command squad - Black's speech, immense stature and the great big company banner Garvel held high by his side obviously marking him out as the leader. Fortunately, being the captain of an entire company had its perks, and he had long ago requisitioned carapace armour for himself and his command squad, which served him well during these deadly close-range assaults.
A stubber round caught him in the shoulder, not entirely deflected by the thick ceramite plate and he felt a familiar wet warmth. He grunted as he registered the pain, but it didn't stop him in his stride and with his armoured gauntlet raised forward, he pulled the internal trigger and the mounted boltgun spat fist-sized shells toward the trenches. The fearsome recoil jolted his arm even with the gauntlet's advanced, in-built stabilisers. The two large drum magazines either-side of the bolter ensured he had more than enough ammunition for the charge, although most of it was spent suppressing the enemy. Several shells did hit however, blasting apart a traitor and splattering their comrades with gore with each impact.
The distance to the trenches felt like it passed almost instantly, though in truth it took them nearly a full minute to reach them en masse, tackling the slight upward incline. Jumping down into the trench, Black landed directly on top of a cowering foe, his bulk knocking him to the ground. A swipe of his chainsword cut a ragged tear across his head, gnarling most of the man's face in a splatter of blood, skull fragments and brain matter.
Swinging his arm out, he caught two more men with his power fist, shattering them with contemptuous ease as their bodies collapsed under the unstoppable force. Ludmilla leapt over the trench, bringing her comically-large eviscerator down in an over-head swing that splattered the traitor into a small puddle of guts and limbs, for the sheer weight of the weapon and momentum of the swing did more damage than the teeth and power field.
Gaunt was ill-suited to melee combat in his ageing state but he held a combat shotgun firmly in his grasp and its full-auto fire down the trench line slaughtered a dozen men as he advanced without pause. Garvel kept the first company banner held high, and when a traitor took several hurried shots, one that deflected by Garvel's helmet and the rest poking small holes in the flag, the banner-man raised his bolt pistol and gunned him down with pin-point accuracy, his bionic arm indifferent to the sharp recoil. Thrace butchered his way through the enemy with his chainsword and plasma pistol, while Cutter covered their backs with his lasgun and stayed alert for wounded.
Within ten minutes the shock and awe assault had claimed the first few lines of trenches on the Eastern front. They had taken several dozen casualties as was the way of things in the First, but the rest were in the thick of it and full of fury - to avenge their fallen comrades, or because they were simply filled with bloodlust. The older, scarred veterans of the company led the way, systematically exterminating the trenches with shot, fire and blade.
Further in the enemy had regrouped and were better prepared to fend off their next assault and it was at this point that Black ordered the men to hold back, forming firing lines in the newly-captured trenches. They traded fire with the enemy as Black knelt down at the front line, both to conceal his rather bullet-catching frame and so that Cutter could attend to the flesh wound on his shoulder. In the mean time, he spoke into a vox communicator attached to the large vox pack on the back of a trooper from the second platoon. "First actual to all company commanders," he said, his voice thick and gruff, "this is Black, first set of East trenches secure. Company is holding position, enemy is dug in, requesting tactical appraisal, over."
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Post by silence on Jun 21, 2014 0:22:18 GMT
Things were going good, the first line of trenches were in near full control of the Thracians, while the enemy were stunned by the sudden aggression and a counter attack hadn't been made.
That last point scared Trask more than he cared to admit, he put that at the back of his mind as he stitched autocannon fire into a group of retreating chaos soldiers, their bodies convulsed and tore apart from the large rounds before settling to the ground in barely recognizable human forms. He brought his Sentinel to a kneeling position as a rocket shot over head just narrowly missing. Adrenaline shot through Trask veins as he noticed, but he suppressed it as he brought the machine back up and put her into a particularly wide trench.
Chaos soldiers milled around the Sentinels foot, and one`s leg was actually trapped underneath the metal foot squirming and yelling out at his comrades for help. The chaos scum didn't even pay their stuck friend any attention as they tried to escape the death spitting from the Sentinels autocannon.
Trask watched with deep amusement at the sheer lack of coordination and lack of brotherhood these traitors possessed. He keyed his vox horn on the Sentinels side and started to laugh, projecting his voice to the traitors to instill even more fear into their hearts. This had the exact effect he wanted, the chaos scum completely lost it trying desperately to get out of the Sentinels way, but that was their biggest threat. The armoured fist squads storming the trench were.
Two, ten man squads, barged over the lip of the trench and plowed into the retreating soldiers, tearing them apart and causing even more disarray amongst the enemy lines. Sections of trench to either side saw their men abandon them without a second thought, retreating to their third line and some not even stopping their.
"This wasn't a battle," Trask thought, "this is a slaughter." He pumped more rounds into the remaining chaos scum and brought his whole Sentinel into the trench. The two squads of soldiers were followed by a chimera with antenna arrays and his company`s standard waving above it. A simple design with a single Cavalryman sitting atop a horse bordered with a black stitching and the company name and deeds written underneath. It inspired Trask as he looked upon it, as it did every time before, but he didn't have time to admire it. Trask popped the side hatch on his Sentinel, only the very top and antenna`s sticking above the trench, and jumped out.
By now the two squads had cleared a ramp into the trench, with explosives, and the chimera was slowly rolling down it. Trask had planned on taking this trench, as his men had pointed it out early on for being a lot wider than normal. Turns out it was suppose to be for an enemy tank that for some reason never showed up, but it would make a great command station for Trask.
Trask walked over to the chimera, its assault ramp opened violently and 4 men jumped out, his command squad. Even though he was the Sentinel squad leader, they were all individuals and were spread out to help where needed, so he kept a small command squad ready for him when he wasn't needed in combat but in making sure things were going their way. They consisted of Sgt. Vastrud, two bodyguards, and the engiseer.
Vastrud strode up to Trask and leaned in close, "Sir, the Chaos filth haven't even so much as spit in our direction since we took the first line of trenches, what the hell are they planning?"
The thought Trask had put away earlier came back, "I don't know, Sergeant, tell our men to hold and hunker down for a counter attack. I want every squad leader to report to me in the next five minutes on their gains and casualties. As well as get the chimera`s ready for the next push, I want to push as soon as I get the command to move on that second line of trenches. We need to breach that wall soon. Also check on the status of the rest of the Regiment, and get me in touch with the Colonel, I want to know his next move."
"Aye, Major," Vastrud said as he reentered the chimera and started to relay Trask`s orders and request.
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