Re: SDNW4 Prologue Thread
Posted: 2010-09-26 02:04pm
From the Annals of the Great Crusade
It was the 22nd year of the Great Crusade. The 41st Imperial Crusade Fleet suffered a reverse in the Tau Bul’var system and had to fight a fighting retreat to leave the system. The Imperial Admiral was outmanoeuvred, and he had decided that the best course of action was to retreat and gather reinforcements for a more concerted push to take the system. Unfortunately, they had to leave behind a number of reconnaissance units in the system, and among the many units, was the 31st Spetnaz Imperial Guard Reconnaissance Regiment.
The 31st Spetnaz Imperial Guard Reconnaissance Regiment was a regiment that was mixed in ethnicity. The unit was largely dominated by those descended from families from the UCSR who left with the Byzantine expedition. They had inserted themselves covertly in the planet Bul’var, along with other units, for the purpose of isolating the position of important targets, and to verify the existence of a secret Tau research facility that would be of use to the Imperium. The Imperium strongly desired any kind of Tau technology, so that they could analyze for weaknesses to exploit or perhaps the off chance that it was interesting enough to study and reverse engineer. Imperial technology had almost equalled the Tau in many ways, but there was still some room for improvement.
The 31st Spetnaz was commanded by a Colonel named Petrov Bagration. He was a firmly dedicated to the cause of the Crusade, even if he was not overly religious. His brother, along with brother’s family, perished in the Battle of Antioch, and he had sworn to make the Tau pay dearly for his loss. His second in command was a Major named Namov Kaminski. He was PeZookian by descent, and had lost son who was one of many fighting in the colony sectors before the city he was in was destroyed by bombardment from orbit.
Petrov Bagration had broken up his unit into many individual platoons. The platoons went deep underground in the sewage network constantly avoiding Tau patrols. Diversions were launched by some other units northward of the city, to draw Tau attention to those areas, allowing units such as the 31st Spetnaz to go deep under to accomplish their missions. All units were equipped with special stealth clothes that hid their heat and visual signature, allowing them to avoid Tau patrols and sensors. The Tau stepped up their patrols, attempting to isolate Imperial units, but they melted away every time they apparently cornered them. Individual platoons were independent enough that they didn’t need centralized control to direct them. They had been given their targets before they had landed, and it was a matter of accomplishing those objectives. Objectives include destroying key infrastructure to paralyze Tau defences, or, like the 31st Spetnaz, isolate key strategic targets.
Tau cities were not large hives like Imperial cities that covered out the entire surface of a world with a series of skyscrapers that reached for the sky. Rather, their cities were mostly clustered in locations and they built a good portion of their cities underground. To hide their strategic facilities, the Tau simply built them deep in the mountains, outside the cities itself. After tracking through the forest towards their target, Colonel Petrov Bagration, along with other platoons soon arrived at their target. They observed the Tau troops patrolling the perimeter with constant vigilance. Petrov’s second in command arrived shortly after the he did.
“Plans, Sir?” asked the Major.
“We are to wait for Major Dzmitry to carry out his mission.”
“He was supposed to set lose a small plasma bomb in the other nearby military base, sir?”
“Yes, while the Tau are occupied, we let lose our own fireworks.”
“Everything we have?”
“Yes. Assign men to take out the communication network,” the Colonel gestured at the antennas that protruded out of the mountain. I’ll lead half the men through the front, you lead them through the back.”
“Da, Comrade. It will be done.”
“Good.”
The men went to their positions, and brought along their heavy munitions. A brilliant flash of light appeared a few kilometres away, incinerating the city. The Tau were caught completely off-guard, and were looking around wildly for targets. Some armoured vehicles peeled off as they headed towards the military base to investigate. The men waited for them to go away, then targeting the armoured vehicles, the communication arrays, they opened fire. Missiles soared forward, destroying their intended targets. Snipers let lose volleys of lasgun fire, killing any the remaining Tau. A few battlesuits came out of the base, only to be struck by a few armoured piercing missiles. The missiles left smoking holes in the battlesuits, their users obviously dead. Any remaining defences were destroyed by missiles.
“Storm the base!” ordered Petrov. The men crept in their stealth suits, more Tau emerged from the base, but they were cut down by lasgun fire. The men of the 31st Spetnaz poured into the base, killing any Tau soldier they encountered. Their stealth suits allowed them to evade the Tau soldiers and prevent them from sealing off the base from the outside. After killing all the remaining guards, they found the Tau scientists cowering in fear at their stations.
“Interrogate them and find out everything we need to know,” he spoke to the Commissar Nerin. The Commissar saluted, and brought his psykers and had the psykers pry what they needed from the Tau brains.
“Sir, what is this stuff?” Major Dzmitry pointed at the steel vats. The major had just arrived with the rest of his unit. “If I were to hazard, these are biovats. Meant to ... serve as a vat to grow bio-agents.”
The Colonel’s eyes widened. Turning to his Commissar, he asked, “What can you tell me?”
“They were researching some human-specific bioweapon, as the Major suspected.”
“So they are trying to create this weapon to use it on us?”
“Apparently so.”
“Damn Tau.”
The communication unit crackled. It was Major Kaminski who had been ordered to secure the perimeter. “Sir! Major enemy units are closing in on the facility.”
“I thought the military base was destroyed?”
“This one is from the city! Huge numbers! I don’t know if we can hold them off.”
“They mean business. How on earth did they know that this place was taken anyway?”
“Colonel? I think I can answer that,” spoke the Commissar. He pointed to one of the Tau scientists, who had a black communications module in hand.
“I’ll be damned. That’s one of the highly classified Tau communication units. Ultra far range. They were really serious about this place. It also explains the larger than expected resistance we encountered in the sector,” said the communications officer.
“Which means we hit the jack pot, and now they are determined to retake this place. Our intelligence was faulty. They had kept this place under close guard because of this facility. The fleet above, and the fleets in the neighbouring systems were meant to protect this facility.” said the Colonel stoically.
“Makes me wonder if there were more,” said Major Dzmitry.
“Communications officer, find out everything you know. Crack the codes. You have the most advanced decryption unit the Imperium has. Use it!”
Taking up the communicator unit, “Major Kaminski. You are to use extreme force to stop the Tau. Blow up the entrances if necessary. Seal off all the hatches, including the vents. This place should have some kind of self-cleaning unit for the ventilation system, in order to guard against possible leaks. Seal those. Be sure to look out for Tau Stealth suits. Send out a wide band transmission for help. Hopefully, the other recon units can buy us time.”
“Understood.”
Major Kaminsky begun devising a plan of resistance. Elevators were destroyed, and booby traps were scattered all over the place. Men lay hidden in their stealth suits ready to snipe and kill any Tau that came within their gun sights. Meanwhile, the Tau gathered in front of the entrance, debating how best to storm the base. It was only a matter of time before they made a decision on how best to storm it.
“What have you found?” Petrov asked his communication officer.
“This is the only facility dedicated to the research on this planet.”
“Are there more?”
“Not that I know of.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Turning to the Commissar, “Commissar, I think you know what I need.”
“I know, Colonel. Let’s arm the plasma bombs. But you might want the Communication officer to somehow get the information out somehow.”
“You are right. Good thinking. Let’s get to work.”
For the men of the 31st Spetnaz, the next few hours was harrowing. The Tau blasted open the entrances into the base, and sent Tau stealth suits to infiltrate the base, only to run into laser proximity bombs that blew. With the failure of the stealth units, the Tau began sending in infantry units, who stepped onto various traps and died. The body count began to climb, but it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the Tau break through the endless trail of booby traps. Snipers fired and killed a number of Tau, and some missiles were used to kill any Tau in battle suits. But eventually, they all had to withdraw with loss when the situation became too heated. The Tau were using their own counter stealth technologies to find the Imperial troops. Finally, the Tau arrived at the giant blast door that separated them from the rest of the base.
Some of the other Imperial Units heard their call for help, and attempted to provide some aid. They ambushed the Tau at the fringe of the ever growing army gathered at the mountain, but the Tau kept growing and they began to withdraw and resort to more covert methods to slow the Tau down.
It then became clear to Colonel Bagration that help was not at hand and the Tau were on the verge of breaking through the last remaining bulkhead. It would be a complete slaughter of the unit, but Bagration knew that the enemy could not be allowed to gain the facility intact. The communication officer and his aides were working feverishly to extract all the necessary information from the Tau comm and then code the message to ensure that Imperial High Command would learn of the facility’s existence.
“Are you done?”
“No sir! Not quite! 90% done!”
“Not good enough! We are running out of time!”
The Colonel thought it over, and then yelled at the Commissar, “Comissar! Hide the bomb! Put a timer on it! 15minutes!”
“Aye Colonel!”
The Colonel grabbed the communication module, “Men! It has always been an honor serving with you all! Remember that today we die for the Emperor! And that with our blood, we will make the bastard Tau pay for their transgressions against humanity! Know that today, our actions will be a great service to the Crusade for we will deny the Tau a bioweapon that will cause grievous harm to the Crusade. Fight hard, and kill every damn Tau you see!”
The Tau broke through. It was a bloodbath for both sides. The men of the 31st Spetnaz fought long and hard, killing as many Tau as possible, before they were overrun. The Colonel gathered the some of remaining survivors around the vats, knowing the Tau would be reluctant to damage them. Some of the others in the unit fought among the workstations and the computer consoles, exploiting the Tau’s reluctance to damage the precious data in them.
Eventually, all that was left was the Colonel and his senior command crew, and the Commissar. The communication officer was working feverishly to send the transmission. A Tau in his battle suit came forward, “Human. Come out of your hiding hole and maybe we will let you live.”
“Like hell you would.”
“Remember that the virus in those vats are contagious to you, not to us. We can always make more.”
“Hahaha, seriously, you are a poor liar. But obviously you want the vats intact, or you know, you would have come in shooting.”
“Don’t test my patience, you pathetic worm. You have only one more chance, or I will send my men to shoot all of you.”
It was only at that point the transmission which used the highest levels of Imperial encryption, was sent in its entirety. The Colonel was not particularly religious, but he prayed silently that the transmission reached someone in the Imperial fleet. “You know, I have a better idea. He took out his plasma rifle, and shot at the Tau commander. The plasma bolt struck the commander hard and he staggered but fell down when the second and third bolt struck in rapid succession, penetrating the armour and killing the commander. The Tau opened fire, destroying one of the vats and killing the humans.
The Tau scoured the remainder of the facility, and then they found the plasma bomb, ticking its last few seconds. The Tau watched helplessly as the timer hit zero.
A day or so later, the Imperial Crusade fleet returned to the system in greater force, routing local Tau forces. They had received the transmission, and greater efforts were made to return to the system as soon as possible. After the planet was taken, a small memorial for the efforts of the 31st Spetnaz was laid at the obliterated mountain. The names of the unit were etched deep onto one of the many plaques in Hall of Heroes on Terra for their heroic efforts in denying the enemy a terrible weapon. Written on the plaque was, “For their heroic efforts at denying the Tau the human bioweapon, the God Emperor declares these men as patron saints for the Imperial Guard Reconnaissance Units. May all men follow their example.”
It was the 22nd year of the Great Crusade. The 41st Imperial Crusade Fleet suffered a reverse in the Tau Bul’var system and had to fight a fighting retreat to leave the system. The Imperial Admiral was outmanoeuvred, and he had decided that the best course of action was to retreat and gather reinforcements for a more concerted push to take the system. Unfortunately, they had to leave behind a number of reconnaissance units in the system, and among the many units, was the 31st Spetnaz Imperial Guard Reconnaissance Regiment.
The 31st Spetnaz Imperial Guard Reconnaissance Regiment was a regiment that was mixed in ethnicity. The unit was largely dominated by those descended from families from the UCSR who left with the Byzantine expedition. They had inserted themselves covertly in the planet Bul’var, along with other units, for the purpose of isolating the position of important targets, and to verify the existence of a secret Tau research facility that would be of use to the Imperium. The Imperium strongly desired any kind of Tau technology, so that they could analyze for weaknesses to exploit or perhaps the off chance that it was interesting enough to study and reverse engineer. Imperial technology had almost equalled the Tau in many ways, but there was still some room for improvement.
The 31st Spetnaz was commanded by a Colonel named Petrov Bagration. He was a firmly dedicated to the cause of the Crusade, even if he was not overly religious. His brother, along with brother’s family, perished in the Battle of Antioch, and he had sworn to make the Tau pay dearly for his loss. His second in command was a Major named Namov Kaminski. He was PeZookian by descent, and had lost son who was one of many fighting in the colony sectors before the city he was in was destroyed by bombardment from orbit.
Petrov Bagration had broken up his unit into many individual platoons. The platoons went deep underground in the sewage network constantly avoiding Tau patrols. Diversions were launched by some other units northward of the city, to draw Tau attention to those areas, allowing units such as the 31st Spetnaz to go deep under to accomplish their missions. All units were equipped with special stealth clothes that hid their heat and visual signature, allowing them to avoid Tau patrols and sensors. The Tau stepped up their patrols, attempting to isolate Imperial units, but they melted away every time they apparently cornered them. Individual platoons were independent enough that they didn’t need centralized control to direct them. They had been given their targets before they had landed, and it was a matter of accomplishing those objectives. Objectives include destroying key infrastructure to paralyze Tau defences, or, like the 31st Spetnaz, isolate key strategic targets.
Tau cities were not large hives like Imperial cities that covered out the entire surface of a world with a series of skyscrapers that reached for the sky. Rather, their cities were mostly clustered in locations and they built a good portion of their cities underground. To hide their strategic facilities, the Tau simply built them deep in the mountains, outside the cities itself. After tracking through the forest towards their target, Colonel Petrov Bagration, along with other platoons soon arrived at their target. They observed the Tau troops patrolling the perimeter with constant vigilance. Petrov’s second in command arrived shortly after the he did.
“Plans, Sir?” asked the Major.
“We are to wait for Major Dzmitry to carry out his mission.”
“He was supposed to set lose a small plasma bomb in the other nearby military base, sir?”
“Yes, while the Tau are occupied, we let lose our own fireworks.”
“Everything we have?”
“Yes. Assign men to take out the communication network,” the Colonel gestured at the antennas that protruded out of the mountain. I’ll lead half the men through the front, you lead them through the back.”
“Da, Comrade. It will be done.”
“Good.”
The men went to their positions, and brought along their heavy munitions. A brilliant flash of light appeared a few kilometres away, incinerating the city. The Tau were caught completely off-guard, and were looking around wildly for targets. Some armoured vehicles peeled off as they headed towards the military base to investigate. The men waited for them to go away, then targeting the armoured vehicles, the communication arrays, they opened fire. Missiles soared forward, destroying their intended targets. Snipers let lose volleys of lasgun fire, killing any the remaining Tau. A few battlesuits came out of the base, only to be struck by a few armoured piercing missiles. The missiles left smoking holes in the battlesuits, their users obviously dead. Any remaining defences were destroyed by missiles.
“Storm the base!” ordered Petrov. The men crept in their stealth suits, more Tau emerged from the base, but they were cut down by lasgun fire. The men of the 31st Spetnaz poured into the base, killing any Tau soldier they encountered. Their stealth suits allowed them to evade the Tau soldiers and prevent them from sealing off the base from the outside. After killing all the remaining guards, they found the Tau scientists cowering in fear at their stations.
“Interrogate them and find out everything we need to know,” he spoke to the Commissar Nerin. The Commissar saluted, and brought his psykers and had the psykers pry what they needed from the Tau brains.
“Sir, what is this stuff?” Major Dzmitry pointed at the steel vats. The major had just arrived with the rest of his unit. “If I were to hazard, these are biovats. Meant to ... serve as a vat to grow bio-agents.”
The Colonel’s eyes widened. Turning to his Commissar, he asked, “What can you tell me?”
“They were researching some human-specific bioweapon, as the Major suspected.”
“So they are trying to create this weapon to use it on us?”
“Apparently so.”
“Damn Tau.”
The communication unit crackled. It was Major Kaminski who had been ordered to secure the perimeter. “Sir! Major enemy units are closing in on the facility.”
“I thought the military base was destroyed?”
“This one is from the city! Huge numbers! I don’t know if we can hold them off.”
“They mean business. How on earth did they know that this place was taken anyway?”
“Colonel? I think I can answer that,” spoke the Commissar. He pointed to one of the Tau scientists, who had a black communications module in hand.
“I’ll be damned. That’s one of the highly classified Tau communication units. Ultra far range. They were really serious about this place. It also explains the larger than expected resistance we encountered in the sector,” said the communications officer.
“Which means we hit the jack pot, and now they are determined to retake this place. Our intelligence was faulty. They had kept this place under close guard because of this facility. The fleet above, and the fleets in the neighbouring systems were meant to protect this facility.” said the Colonel stoically.
“Makes me wonder if there were more,” said Major Dzmitry.
“Communications officer, find out everything you know. Crack the codes. You have the most advanced decryption unit the Imperium has. Use it!”
Taking up the communicator unit, “Major Kaminski. You are to use extreme force to stop the Tau. Blow up the entrances if necessary. Seal off all the hatches, including the vents. This place should have some kind of self-cleaning unit for the ventilation system, in order to guard against possible leaks. Seal those. Be sure to look out for Tau Stealth suits. Send out a wide band transmission for help. Hopefully, the other recon units can buy us time.”
“Understood.”
Major Kaminsky begun devising a plan of resistance. Elevators were destroyed, and booby traps were scattered all over the place. Men lay hidden in their stealth suits ready to snipe and kill any Tau that came within their gun sights. Meanwhile, the Tau gathered in front of the entrance, debating how best to storm the base. It was only a matter of time before they made a decision on how best to storm it.
“What have you found?” Petrov asked his communication officer.
“This is the only facility dedicated to the research on this planet.”
“Are there more?”
“Not that I know of.”
“That’s good to hear.”
Turning to the Commissar, “Commissar, I think you know what I need.”
“I know, Colonel. Let’s arm the plasma bombs. But you might want the Communication officer to somehow get the information out somehow.”
“You are right. Good thinking. Let’s get to work.”
For the men of the 31st Spetnaz, the next few hours was harrowing. The Tau blasted open the entrances into the base, and sent Tau stealth suits to infiltrate the base, only to run into laser proximity bombs that blew. With the failure of the stealth units, the Tau began sending in infantry units, who stepped onto various traps and died. The body count began to climb, but it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the Tau break through the endless trail of booby traps. Snipers fired and killed a number of Tau, and some missiles were used to kill any Tau in battle suits. But eventually, they all had to withdraw with loss when the situation became too heated. The Tau were using their own counter stealth technologies to find the Imperial troops. Finally, the Tau arrived at the giant blast door that separated them from the rest of the base.
Some of the other Imperial Units heard their call for help, and attempted to provide some aid. They ambushed the Tau at the fringe of the ever growing army gathered at the mountain, but the Tau kept growing and they began to withdraw and resort to more covert methods to slow the Tau down.
It then became clear to Colonel Bagration that help was not at hand and the Tau were on the verge of breaking through the last remaining bulkhead. It would be a complete slaughter of the unit, but Bagration knew that the enemy could not be allowed to gain the facility intact. The communication officer and his aides were working feverishly to extract all the necessary information from the Tau comm and then code the message to ensure that Imperial High Command would learn of the facility’s existence.
“Are you done?”
“No sir! Not quite! 90% done!”
“Not good enough! We are running out of time!”
The Colonel thought it over, and then yelled at the Commissar, “Comissar! Hide the bomb! Put a timer on it! 15minutes!”
“Aye Colonel!”
The Colonel grabbed the communication module, “Men! It has always been an honor serving with you all! Remember that today we die for the Emperor! And that with our blood, we will make the bastard Tau pay for their transgressions against humanity! Know that today, our actions will be a great service to the Crusade for we will deny the Tau a bioweapon that will cause grievous harm to the Crusade. Fight hard, and kill every damn Tau you see!”
The Tau broke through. It was a bloodbath for both sides. The men of the 31st Spetnaz fought long and hard, killing as many Tau as possible, before they were overrun. The Colonel gathered the some of remaining survivors around the vats, knowing the Tau would be reluctant to damage them. Some of the others in the unit fought among the workstations and the computer consoles, exploiting the Tau’s reluctance to damage the precious data in them.
Eventually, all that was left was the Colonel and his senior command crew, and the Commissar. The communication officer was working feverishly to send the transmission. A Tau in his battle suit came forward, “Human. Come out of your hiding hole and maybe we will let you live.”
“Like hell you would.”
“Remember that the virus in those vats are contagious to you, not to us. We can always make more.”
“Hahaha, seriously, you are a poor liar. But obviously you want the vats intact, or you know, you would have come in shooting.”
“Don’t test my patience, you pathetic worm. You have only one more chance, or I will send my men to shoot all of you.”
It was only at that point the transmission which used the highest levels of Imperial encryption, was sent in its entirety. The Colonel was not particularly religious, but he prayed silently that the transmission reached someone in the Imperial fleet. “You know, I have a better idea. He took out his plasma rifle, and shot at the Tau commander. The plasma bolt struck the commander hard and he staggered but fell down when the second and third bolt struck in rapid succession, penetrating the armour and killing the commander. The Tau opened fire, destroying one of the vats and killing the humans.
The Tau scoured the remainder of the facility, and then they found the plasma bomb, ticking its last few seconds. The Tau watched helplessly as the timer hit zero.
A day or so later, the Imperial Crusade fleet returned to the system in greater force, routing local Tau forces. They had received the transmission, and greater efforts were made to return to the system as soon as possible. After the planet was taken, a small memorial for the efforts of the 31st Spetnaz was laid at the obliterated mountain. The names of the unit were etched deep onto one of the many plaques in Hall of Heroes on Terra for their heroic efforts in denying the enemy a terrible weapon. Written on the plaque was, “For their heroic efforts at denying the Tau the human bioweapon, the God Emperor declares these men as patron saints for the Imperial Guard Reconnaissance Units. May all men follow their example.”