Crusade Campaign: Hit Squad

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Dekana
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Crusade Campaign: Hit Squad

Post by Dekana » Tue Jul 27, 2021 2:48 pm

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Kellan glanced through the cockpit window at the terrain racing below. The darkness hid most features, but he could make out scattered rockcrete ruins illuminated by the moonlight. "More ruins than buildings on this backwater" he said to no one in particular. The valkyrie's pilot in the seat beside him half-turned her head, unsure whether to answer. After a moment's pause, she gave a cautious response of "Yes, Inquisitor."

He had been on this world several weeks now. Why the daemons of the warp had taken an interest in this particular world, Kellan had no idea - not that it mattered. They were here, and his duty would have him follow - but always one-step behind it seemed.

--- 12 hours earlier ---
The stormtroopers under the Inquisitor's command fanned out to surround the large manor before them, smartly moving in twos while the rest of the squad aimed at the structure, ready to provide cover. Another two squads moved door to door through the rest of the hamlet, ordering the townsfolk to gather in the town center.
The women were certainly well trained, as to be expected from the Militarum Tempestus. They were quick-footed, expert shots, and perfect for rapid airborne insertions. Kellan did not regret his choice of retinue, finding the stormtroopers' flexibility more useful than the raw combat prowess of the Adeptus Astartes or the near-insane faith of the Adeptus Sororitas.

This was certainly the building. He could sense its wrongness, as if he were gazing upon a grotesque art piece (although to a non-psyker, the manor must have looked perfectly normal). For days he had tracked the warp disturbance across the continent, him and his retinue drawing closer and closer to the source until they at last arrived in this tiny farming village.

"Secure the entrance," he spoke curtly into his micro-bead.

Kellan waited patiently at the front gate, resting both hands on his greathammer, while his soldiers blew open the manor's entrance and stepped inside.
No screams or gunfire he thought as long seconds passed. Always a good sign. He had half-expected to hear lasgun fire as a daemon or some other warp monstrosity revealed itself.
"Sir," a voice carried over the microbead. Cassia, one of the squad leaders, he recognized. "It's some kind of ritual site. The entrance hall is filled with bodies and blood. No hostiles." Her voice was supremely calm considering what she must have been looking at. Another benefit of working with the stormtroopers - their minds were well-hardened by long years of training - nearing on the robotic at times - and surprisingly resistant to the madness that is Chaos.

Kellan started a response: "Very well. Continue " - when he was interrupted by an explosion from behind him.
The town center.

The inquisitor and a dozen of the stormtroopers ran double-time back toward the two squads who were left to guard the villagers. As they rounded a corner back onto the main street, they found a melee in front of them. The rearguard was fighting with bayonets to fend off a mob of the townsfolk, who seemed to be mostly unarmed. A few held kitchen knives, others farming implements.
The villagers were babbling insanely while they attacked the injured scions. "Scream! Ahahaha - scream for she who lus" - cackled one farmer, right before his pitchfork was parried and he was bayoneted in the throat.

Kellan recognized that the explosion must have been a grenade - three of his soldiers lay injured or dead in a cluster.
The villagers must have attacked with whatever was on hand, plus the grenade that one had obviously concealed somewhere.

The skirmish ended almost immediately after the inquisitor's reinforcements arrived. The fresh stormtroopers unleashed an intense barrage from their hot-shot lasguns, dropping the majority of the townsfolk with fire powerful enough to penetrate power armor. The ones who were too close to the injured scions to be shot were quickly subdued by a bayonet charge.

--- 12 hours later ---

The town from earlier in the afternoon was already just a memory - in more ways than one: Kellan ordered it burnt to the ground before his stormtroopers left, just one more ruin on this cursed world.
The inquisitor's study of the manor did not reveal the purpose of the blood ritual inside, but he was able to pick up another psychic trail leading away from the town. Whatever the ritual was meant to accomplish, it was seemingly linked to another site. Kellan would follow, and he would disrupt every ritual site he could find - hopefully before the chaos forces at work could finish whatever their dark design was.

"Inquisitor," the pilot started. "We're approaching the target coordinates you provided. Looks like another town. Touchdown in 5 minutes."
She spoke more decisively this time, apparently happier to be discussing work with Kellan than entertaining his conversation.

Kellan flipped a switch and activated the announcer toward the body of the aircraft, where his scions were waiting for their next mission.
"Cassia, we arrive in 5 minutes. No surprises this time - shoot the villagers on sight."

The pilot glanced nervously at Kellan, then quickly returned her eyes to the terrain, hoping he didn't notice. He did.
You can't spell slaughter without laughter.

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Dekana
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Re: Crusade Campaign: Hit Squad

Post by Dekana » Sat Jul 31, 2021 10:57 am

A man's voice suddenly came through the valkyrie's onboard vox. "Unidentified aircraft, you are entering an area controlled by the Astartes. In the name of the Emperor, turn back or be destroyed."

What's this?, Kellan thought. I haven't heard of any space marine activity in 500 kilometers.
He flipped a switch on the instrument panel and spoke back in to the vox.
"We travel on Inquisition business. Stand down and allow our passage." No need to give too much information on an open channel, namely that there was an inquisitor actually onboard.

A brief pause followed before the vox crackled on once more. "We are on equal authority in this matter. Your passage is denied. Reverse course immediately."
Now this was quite a surprise to the inquisitor. He certainly couldn't recall ever having been denied passage by a servant of the emperor, least of all by one of his angels of death. What could the Astartes possibly be thinking? They had no authority to impede an Inquisitor in the course of his duties.

Kellan voxed once more to argue the point, speaking for a few moments without reply from the Astartes before the pilot interrupted him.
"Incoming fire, 12 o'clock! Evading."

Kellan slammed the vox panel in frustration. If the space marines wanted a fight, he'd give them one.
"Cassia," he spoke into the onboard announcer. "Change in plans. Drop immediately and secure the landing zone."

---

A half hour later, Kellan and his stormtroopers were in possession of the battlefield. One of the valkyries, 2 Big And Too Heavy, had been struck by a few autocannon hits on the approach, but her pilot reported no serious damage. A dozen stormtroopers were dead or maimed in the firefight, but in return they had killed or driven away the entire patrol of space marines.

At first, Kellan couldn't understand what had motivated the marines to fight him. He witnessed an apothecary breaking off from the fight to recover the geneseed of one of his long-dead brothers, but surely that wouldn't be reason to obstruct the Inquisition.
Until, during the fight, he suddenly came to blows with one of his colleagues - an Inquisitor Tara, if he recalled correctly.
In the heat of the combat, he had little chance to clear up matters with her, and she retreated with the rest of the marines.

Kellan thought back to the space marine's words over the vox. "We are on equal authority in this matter."
Meaning, the marines were acting under Tara's authority? Surely, the fight wasn't the result of a vox miscommunication, was it?

... He resolved himself to treat Tara to the highest quality Amasec he could find the next time they met, assuming they didn't kill each other first.
You can't spell slaughter without laughter.

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