BFGs : Chapter 1 The Landing

[SQJ]

Earth 3100 AD
31 March 04:45


"Catherine Vimes? Of course I know that name. That's my sister you're talking about. How could I not know my own sister?" Vincent Vimes grinned wide, looking up from a shot of blue velvet, a common Grunt alcohol. It took allot to get a Grunt drunk, more so for a Heavy Gunner and those were exactly who he was surrounded by.

Mention of his sister had done little to stem his resolve to get shit faced. His glasses raised once more. "I know of the great amazing, highly decorated. Catherine Vimes. Do you mind if you leave me, the not so great, not so amazing, Vincent Vimes to his refreshing beverage. The bottoms up, brothers and sisters of the core!"

Vincent drank, tilting his head all the way back and pushing it forwards once again before looking around. None of the others had bothered to raise their glasses. There were several heavy gunners surrounding him, his fellow grunts had had enough. It took allot to get to a Heavy Gunner drunk, they made amazing drinking partners, only they weren't drinking.
The smallest, which was twice his size slapped his back hard. "You are full of shit. Vimes you and your sister are the same and are destined for something big. I just have no idea what, but I know it's going to be beyond anything the rest of us at the Paarl barracks. The UED only hands out the greatest leadership rankings to the city barracks' in the northern hemisphere. My own brother is the work mule for the Zaghouan city's barracks. It's a bit of a nightmare for my brother. Telepaths are a nightmare to be bossed around by, the worst part is that even with the god damn mind reading they know how much you hate them and still act like complete motherfuckers. "

This statement was immediately met by a cheer and the drinks they'd once hesitated on were downed and refilled quickly. The idea that he'd have to leave these people put a lump into his throat, one he washed down with another shot and another shot.

-

Delta Six, Prima 8(Far side of the black hole)
December 20th 18:00

Vincent's eyes opened slowly, taking in the his surroundings. The dim light made it easy to count out the men and women he'd been locked into a tiny steel bowl with. Forty five steel pods set in a tempered steel cylinder laid out in a circle.

He wasn't supposed to see this dim lifeless room.

Something 'irregular' just had happened, he just didn't know what. Men and women from the Paarl barracks looked up from their respective pods making eye contact, darting from person to person before the display panel in from of Vincent's eyes flashed green and a letter filled his gaze.

He wasn't a telepath and so he couldn't read minds, but he didn't need to when most computers could read his, and listened. It wasn't exactly his mind the machines were reading, just his direct intentions working off a temporal lobe soldiers were implanted with. That letter flashed up in front of his eyes and automatically scrolled as he read.

Congratulations Corporal Vincent Vimes on your new promotion to Lance Corporal.

You have been given this assignment as it's your first assignment out of planet. You are most likely wondering why the upgrade. You have garnered the highest test scores in your aptitude tests in both high gravity simulations, insectoid simulations and high danger classed creature types. You also have a high marksmanship and shooting scores among grunt level troopers.
You along with the team you will be leading will be clearing a hill that's set to be used as the new colonist mining location, but the UED need the grounds cleared. The tunnels are too small for our machinery and our tanks to clear so your team along with several others will be placed strategically around the hill and then you will clear it of all threatening life forms and destroy any means of them reforming without destroying the tunnels themselves. A list of the creature types found so far have been listed along with their ability to rend human flesh and crush steel. Take none of this for granted.

On and on the words scrolled and then rescrolled, images flashed, scrolled down and the flashed again. Fully detailed schematics were filed out and then spread out, zoomed in, zoomed out where he needed them to. The details on where he would land and who was on the ship with him appeared. The ship was filled with people from his own barracks, where they would be reassigned. Unfortunately the details of exactly where they would be going were nonexistent, above his pay grade. But not for long apparently, he was still years behind Constance but moving from Private First class, to Corporal to Lance Corporal, one jump after the other. It was all so thrilling and upon eyeing one location to the next followed by all the data he could pick up that he had access to.

There was so much there to be gleamed it gave him a head ache which led to the temperature of the room altering to in an attempt try and clear the pain.

--------------

Delta Six, Prima 8, Tsar planet.
December 22nd 21:00


The Compactor.
There were six space stations that used up the highest of UED finances and recourses. The sixth largest space ship was the compactor. The ship itself was the length of New York, storing and operating on over a four billion tons of raw material, which had been processed into the first colonist city in planet Tsar. A fully functional city, with its own power supply and agricultural fields capable of holding thousands of workers, hundreds of thousands of workers if the recourses allowed.

They were the seventeen of them set out in orbit, either waiting to land or still under construction.

They all just needed the right home.

The perfect landing zone had been found on the first hill. Alpha point or Hill Alpha.

If only it weren't for the bug problem.

----
Delta Six, Prima 8, Tsar planet, orbit.
The Compactor.
December 24th 08:00

He wasn't the first one to the briefing but he wasn't the last either. There were over three hundred men and women off different sizes pouring into wide steel doors. Glowing in front of his left hand shone a green arrow with numbers marking seat number and distance from the seat itself.

Crossing the steel doors he crossed into a wide auditorium capable of holding thousands by the looks of it and at its heart was a stage, behind a plain white wall. It might have been impressive had he not seen so many of the type before. Grand design but devoid of luxury, simple down to the very basic seating and barely any colour what so ever to be seen.

The green arrow turned red, bringing him to an abrupt halt. Fifth row from the front, there were people there already. The seating was arranged, undoubtedly by their squads so the men and women around them were undoubtedly a part of Gamma team. Nerves struck and pulled on him like elastic cords being yanked by a child. Gun fire, torture, death he wasn't supposed to be afraid of those and yet he was terrified of uttering the words that he was sure were supposed to come out of his mouth. Nothing came.

Instead he nodded his head at the group and sat between them, looking forwards without turning his head to the group. He'd taken in what he'd needed. Eight people by the look of the coloured insignia on their shoulders, purple. There were three Grunts, two male, one female, there was a Medic, a Heavy Gunner a Sniper and finally a Telepath. The words of the heavy gunner back in his old barracks brought him back. It didn't matter, he was in charge. It was then that Vincent immediately tried his best to stop thinking. Thinking about a Telepath in front of a Telepath was just plain silly.

He didn't dwell on the thought, the last seat being taken and the sudden change in lighting didn’t allow him to. At the base of the auditorium, at the stage, a woman had just stepped up. Behind her a high resolution and high definition image had just opened up of her torso as she spoke. Vincent's heart sank. If there was ever a time to want a drink, it was right then.

The massive 3D image of Constance Vimes moved from left to right. Vincent found the large 3D image lingering in their direction for only a second before it moved on, whether it as his own paranoia or ego telling him to act or whether it wasn't he couldn't tell. What he could tell was that Constance had somehow taken the role of an officer. The insignia on her chest spoke of a ranking above that of a Sergeant Major but rather that of a Lieutenant. He should have been happy, he should have been proud, only he wasn't, he was shocked and appalled. When had this happened? Why was he only finding out now? Was she not a Master Sergeant when he'd taken off from Paarl?

The briefing began slowly, her words heavy and sharp. The strong tone of a former Heavy Gunner who, unlike any other had turned specialisations, most especially from extremes such as Heavy Gunner to Telepath. Something of which had been considered physically impossible, making her by far the most prestigious member of the Vimes family line.
Constance stopped, pulling away from her podium almost as if to stretch. After a moment she stood at the podium once again.

"The life of a soldier, we are told, means little. This is not true. It never has been true. Look at the soldier in front of you and the soldier behind. Look at them carefully because I am about to throw a large number at you. That number simply put is three million. Three million credits is the value of each and every single one of you. The value of each of you terms of the value of recruiting each and every one of you. The cost of training you, offering you beds, taking you off planet, housing you off planet ,food, water, accommodation, the very tables and chairs you sit on at this moment. Three million credits."
Her eye brow raised slowly as her eyes seemed to focus on every single one of them. Vincent's eyes rolled. She was pausing for dramatic affect and it was always a nightmare to watch back at home, more so now that they weren't children playing soldier anymore.

"The total sum of which is a fraction of what you are all worth. Now look at the soldier next to you once again. Because each and every one of you have the value of 400 hundred trillion humans spread across the galaxy. Your prime value though is quite simply 65 thousand human beings, each of them working on this ship who will be starting out on Alpha before the rest of colonists come in. In which the value of your lives rises to the millions. You are the walls that separate every single one of those from life and death. Our species survives in numbers through perpetual growth and development. This land and these resources are the life blood that will keep so many alive, it's out of need not want that we are here. We fight so others do not thrive but we fight so others may live.

Now give me a hooorah!"

She yelled, her voice taking up a base in her tone. There was a wave of movement and sound as the entire auditorium jumped to their feet and responded.
Hoorah!

"Now arm up in the name of the planet Earth! Follow your team leaders to the designated locations and lock and load!"

Green light shone in front of his hand and he read the direction he would be leading them but he didn't leave instead standing up straight and saluting his 'men'
"Lance Corporal Vincent Vimes! I I know we will make the UED proud and kick some alien ass before anyone else. Now as we walk I want names, ranking whatever the hell your deal is. Let's move."

[Jacogos]

Richard King stood among the seething mob of three hundred plus soldiers with a sour expression on his face. He wasn't that fond of Mrs. Vimes, or whatever she was supposed to be referred to as nowadays, mostly because she was pretending to be something that she was not. Someone doesn't just go from a lug-headed Heavy straight to a sophisticated Telepath like that. It just didn't work. Yet someone this upstart bitch had done it AND nabbed herself some impossible rank that he couldn't quite place a name to. He thought it started with a "P" or something...

Looking back, Wolf wondered why he was here...

The day had started off well enough. Woke up, ate, found out that he was supposed to be somewhere, and left accordingly. He had found his seat well enough, and his instructions had been clear. He had to attend this damn pep rally, then he was off with his assigned 'team' to do some odd mission... He hadn't read it that well. Didn't matter if he had. It was a little more fun to be surprised. He hadn't been the first one here, but at least he hadn't been last like their leader.

Some might think that, as the Telepath, Wolf felt slighted that a mere Grunt had ended up the leader while he was left to follow. Sadly, that wasn't the case, as most Heavies and other Grunts thought. He didn't like leading, and if someone else was better suited, it was alright with him. "Besides, mate, I can't be fagged* to baby sit a bunch of droolin' twits," he would tell the Grunts. Half of them got angry, but he never had to fight any of them. Silly bastards always bark more than they bite.

When the man showed up finally, Wolf felt the need to read what he could, but for the most part there was simply too much going on for him to hear much. Something about Telepaths... most likely that he didn't like them. Wonderful start, chap. Then the important lady said some stuff (Which he paid no attention to) and suddenly the soldiers were on their feet saying 'Hoorah!'

"Hoo-fuckin'-rah, mates..." He said sarcastically as he rose, which brought him back to the present. Crazy steroid pumped soldiers... Hopefully they could get this show on the road, soon...

Luckily for him, though, the leader, introduced as Lance Corporal Vincent Vimes-

"Vimes? As in..." Wolf peered at the now retreating UED leader and then at his squad leader. "I feel bloody sorry for ya." His British accent lining his voice, he smirked and saluted lazily. "Corporal Richard King at your service. Been called 'Wolf' most me life, though. And it ain't because I'll rip your throat out if you make fun of my telepathy." Still smirking, he let the other man lead them out, figuring he at least knew where they were supposed to be going.

[Tune]

As a Grunt, life wasn't entertaining for them till they were out on the field, risking their lives. Even now, things were boring, and the day to day life was starting to wear down on Holly. Such as the life of a Grunt outside of the battlefield. The downtime was agonizing to say the least. Being one of the few females to become a grunt, she had a lot to live up to. Even now as she sat in an uncomfortable seat in the auditorium, staring at a blank stage, she felt a mix of insecurity - and pride as the thought of being the only female grunt on the Gamma Team registered.

Holly Schilling stiffened her back, and saluted the woman who appeared on stage. Constance Vimes, wasn't it? She paced back and forth on screen, and she bit back a groan. Another high ranking officer who was too good to show their face. Of course. Why was she surprised? With a bit of rebellion, she ignored the 3D human's orders to observe the people around her. She'd have time to get acquainted with them in a less stifling situation.

A thought occurred to her. A 'Vimes' was supposed to be their commanding officer, right? She narrowed her eyes. Everyone heard of Constance Vimes. Very few people hadn't. A Heavy Gunner suddenly becoming a Telepath. The suspicion was very high on how such a thing could occur. As the woman rattled off numbers, Holly shifted in her seat. She didn't need some tight lipped official telling her how many lives depended on her and the others of her team.

"Hoorah!" cheered Holly, jumping to her feet to salute the woman on screen.

"Hoo-fuckin'-rah, mates..."

She shot a side glare towards the disrespectful soldier that uttered a swear. She resisted an eye roll. It was a Telepath. Figures. Learn to show some respect, she thought, as if daring him to read her mind amongst the clatter of others thoughts. Had a Telepath's brain ever exploded? She grinned, appeased by the though.

"Lance Corporal Vincent Vimes! I I know we will make the UED proud and kick some alien ass before anyone else. Now as we walk I want names, ranking whatever the hell your deal is. Let's move."

She snapped her attention to her commanding officer, saluting him in return. The Telepath was already rambling as they made their way out of the auditorium, following after the Lance Corporal. Once the Telepath had stopped running his jaws, she took the opportunity to speak up.

"Private Holly Schilling; Soldier." She wasn't much for small talk, not when she was thrilled with the chance of being out on the battlefield - and agitated by the Telepath she had the displeasure of being teamed with. She seriously hoped he was as good as a Telepath as he was a conversationalist. Strike that, she hoped he was better.

[The Bartender]

"A heavy gunner turning into a Telepath... that's almost impossible..." Alexis thought as she saw the woman on hte huge screen. Constance Vimes was the commanding officer here, a legend, even among the well known Vimes family and her own leader would be a Vimes too.
She had been the first one of her team in the Auditorium and first when there were more people, she had woken up.
She was tired from the training in the high cravity simulator and the H2O-regulation she had been put for about two weeks for now. It was essential for Heavy gunners because if not, they would dry out in few hours.
She listened the talking of the woman half a sleep, not willing to stand up when she wanted them to cheer even thought almost all others did it.

As the speach was over and the team was moving out their leader decided to introduce himself;

"Lance Corporal Vincent Vimes! I I know we will make the UED proud and kick some alien ass before anyone else. Now as we walk I want names, ranking whatever the hell your deal is. Let's move."
Alexis nodded first and waited for the telepath and a grunt to introduce themselves first.
"Private Alexis Ross, a Heavy Gunner specialized in high cravity combat at your service, sir!" She said as cheerful as she had energy, even thought it was not much confidence in it.

[Heavensguard92]

Before the girl, Liara, laid spread out across a generic mess hall table plenty of bits and tibits of metal and metallic fibers. To all, it is a mess of parts and junk. To her, it was a puzzle.

The rather small framed girl sent her hands into a frenzy across the table. Grabbing bits and pieces left and right. it was a flurry of limbs and parts as she strived to finish up the puzzle. onlookers from other tables in the mess hall could only watch as the tornado on her table settles and there lies a complex rifle with no scope attachments. long with 5, almost 6, feet long rifle and weighing in around 20 or so pounds. Her eyes glinted at the hardware and her grin nearly broke her face. A man stood by her table could only let his jaw drop.
"This weapon is still in good shape, who ever sold this knows how to keep things up." The girl says as she hands it over to the rather burly man that stood before her. The guy could only nod before turning away and walking off.


Not too far off, two men watched the assembly and then glanced back toward one another.

"Thats that neuraled chick aint it?" One of them whispers, his companion only glances back before nodding his head.
"Yea, Corporal Liara Olingard if I recall her files correctly. Former convict."
"Convict? What she do?"
"Thats the tricky part. That portion of her file was under black ink. But I've done alittle research."
"What research?"
"Trying to link her file to any female inmates that match. Didn't like what I found."
"What you find?" Visibly anxious.
"Well, theres this file about a serial killer who only strikes at families"
"Thats some dark shit there"
"Yea, but this next one gets better. This one is actually about a mental girl. Turns out shes just a clerk who can barely handle violence."
"Whats so bad about that?"
"Well, turns out she has a mental condition. A fight broke out in her store and she couldn't handle the sight. Something snapped and she took a pen and jutted out the two fighters jugulars. Simple and messy. Her mind snapped back shortly after and she has no recollection of what had happened."
"Holy shit."
"I know, turns out her psycho alter ego has some talents in improvisional weaponry."
"Goddamn, and that girl could be her?"
"Yea, but then again i have a few more files that match-"

The two men jumped when they saw a body slide into an unoccupied seat on their table. The small framed girl, the very one they were discussing, had just sat down with them.

"I couldn't help but notice you're friend here taking the every so often glance. I decided to break the ice myself." Her heartful smile only furthered their fear of her.

"Liara Olingard, whatcha two talking about?"

Both men could only watch her in shock and in tension as her smile beams.

"Well, we were just talking about some games that our cousins have been devoid their life to..."

"Aww, really? I could have sworn you were talking about prison records and the su-" a sharp series of beeps cut her off. Liara brought her hand to her ear. A her eyes closed briefly before she nodded.
"Yes, alright. I'm on my way."

The girl brings her hand down and glances back toward the man. "It would seem that I have somewhere else to be. So bye for now. And also..." She says as she stands up and begins to walk out of the mess hall.

"...Your friend seems to have urinated himself." With that, the girl was gone.

The man looked over to see his friend with his head on the table. "Hey you alright mate, i know that was heart stoppping but come on- Holy shit you did piss yourself!"


________________________________


"Well that was interesting." the girls light voice didn't carry top well over the actions of others. Her eyes glance over her fellow soldiers. Good number of them towered over her, but such thing never bothers her. Nothing ever bothers her, perks of neuralization. Even though something may have gone wrong with hers, she still got the important parts down.

"Lance Corporal Vincent Vimes! I know we will make the UED proud and kick some alien ass before anyone else. Now as we walk I want names, ranking whatever the hell your deal is. Let's move!"
Liara's ever present smirk graces her face a tad wider.
She fell in step to the side of her new lead.

"Corporal Liara Olingard. Your long barrelled solution to infantry problems. Pleased to be under your service, Boss. Also, nice to meet all of you!" Her voice loud and confident, no crack in tone in existence.

[SQJ]

One by one the intros came in. This nightmare was more than he'd ever imagined from his first day. But he knew his shit. He'd done his research. He marched his way forward, taking point on the walk to the armoury. There should have been time for small talk, he was generally good at small talk but there wasn't time. There wasn't the opportunity. He needed to be the first one there at the armoury and he needed to be the first on the ground, but that would be unlikely.

No, that was an understatement. It would be impossible, the Vimes code demanded that they be the first on the ground and Constance had done her last name proud by always being the first. Undoubtedly her ship going down would be the one to arrive first.

The white passage ended with his men just behind him when steel doors opened and hall sized room opened up in front of. Hundreds of rows upon rows of weapons running the length of the entire hall. Vimes raised his fist and pointed to each individual rows. "Pack up! Over pack if you have to because I will not be the first ones to be sent back because we ran the fuck out of supplies. Move it, move it!" Vime yelled, suddenly more frightened of himself than he was the enemy ahead. He was starting to sound more and more like his drill instructor every moment and it scared the life out him, but it was difficult to stop, not when he had his reputation to form.

It didn't take long to suit up, the men he was assigned with were competent, competent enough to stock themselves up with what looked to be enough munitions and water to make it through. At least it was what he hoped was enough. There were no easy battles, the only good battle was the battle already survived. Yes Vimes thought to himself I just have to keep thinking that.

Each of them were seated into a circular elevator, padded cushions, white light flowing all around them it was all so.... damn gorgeous. It upset him to have to sit in it. It wasn't what the battle would be like, there wouldn't see a cushion for a while after this.

The elevator were essentially bus sized saucers running the length of a nano tech steel cable that shot down to the battleships down below. Each battleship a kilometre in length lined on both sides with missile turrets, hoving two click above ground. Looking out the rear window he could see them. He was right about not being the first to touch ground. Dozens over missiles were fired out of each individual battleships, each missile stuffing itself deep into the hill's deep innards without a flicker of light or a burst of flame.

Showing off the true effective targeting of a smart missile when pointed.

The elevator opened and the lush white of the previous ship was lost as a burst of heat filled the room taking his breath away. Vimes took a pained gasp of air and drew in cold water from his suite. The first to his feet and the first out the door, Vimes flicked his fingertips forwards as a sign to follow and he took off at speed.

The walls here were not pristine and white, there was no showing off here. Only wide dark passages were men, food and munitions were carried front point A to point ABCD,XYZ.
All around him appeared to be chaos. There were over two hundred men moving back on forth like ants, each of them carrying something. Vimes stopped in front of the man who appeared to be giving any kind of orders to anyone.
"What the fuck is going on." Vimes yelled.
"Who the hell are you?" The man yelled, he appeared to be yelling into a device in his ear too.
"Lance Corporal Vimes, I need intel on your situation. What's happening here."
"Everything keeps getting better and better." He laughed, it was bitter and angry. "We're getting constant radio calls to send in missile strikes. All ships! It's as though you fucking assholes have forgotten how to use guns."
"Why haven't I haven't heard a thing about all this?"
"Maybe if you turned your fucking radio on!" The man yelled turning away quickly, ending the conversation completely.

Vimes swore, then swore again. He opened it up on multiple frequencies and turned it off immediately. There were hundreds of voices, shouting, screaming and gunshots. The shit was hitting that fan. They were still on the ship. They were still on the ship! They we not fighting. Fighting would not be their honour. Fight would not be their point of pride if they were still on the fucking ship! He yanked the man's shoulders, flipping him around. "Where the hell are the emergency escape pods!"
"Those are for-" The eyes of Vimes bore right into him and shut him up and his eyes pointed to the far corner of the room.

Vimes started running once again, turning three times along the passage stopping on an even smaller circular room with no cushions and a thick layer of rust. It was somehow very appropriate to the situation.

It didn’t take long for the escape pod to be fired off shooting off like its own missile before smashing into the hard ground below forming a crater. The doors opened and Vimes crawled out. His knees buckled and he fell to the ground, vomiting heavily. He gargled off of his own water supply and spat.
"We ready for battle soldiers?" Vimes said laughing and spitting out the foul taste of puke, his gun cocking as he adjusted his grip. "I want my gunner at the rear, sniper ahead of him. Medic and telepath in the middle and grunts supporting up front. Move it move it move it! Shoot anything that moves! Telepath, if you start feeling anyhitng that isn't your own dick I want to know! Now hurry up goddamn it"

He'd managed to land them on the mouth of their assigned cave. It was hug. Big enough to drive a bus into and by the feel of the cool air he could feel the darkness of the cave drawing him in. All around he could hear the screeching of specialised weapons, the chitter chatter of gunfire and like an irregular heart beat missile after missile, grenade after grenade going off.

And yet never once did it distract from the screeching of what he could only guess were millions upon millions of creatures down in the depts...

[Jacogos]

"If you start feeling anything that isn't your own dick, I want to know! Now hurry up goddamn it!"

This last was aimed at him, Richard noticed. The past thirty odd minutes had been a bit of a hazy blur, the Brit realized. A bunch of moving, not really paying attention. Deployments usually had a habit of getting lost in his mind, for some reason. Thankfully, though, now that he was grounded, he felt much more alert. Now was his time to work...

"Sir," Wolf said shortly, acknowledging the command. He got into position behind the grunts and began to mentally feel around. Based on what the trainers had told him, Wolf was familiar with how completely different the creatures felt from humans. Large bright lights when compared to the subtle flicker of human thought. This didn't suggest they were intelligent, though... No, far from it. It was a primal surge of instinct that made up that light. It would be quite interesting if it didn't usually mean someone was gonna get torn open.

Thankfully the first few yards were completely clear, so Wolf figured he could manage a quick word.

"Oy, boss," He said quietly. "Any chance we can get an overview of our objective here?"

Vimes raised his head but didn't stop, instead slowing as he marched the group into the mouth of the cave, his gun at the ready. "The objective is simple, kill our way through to the heart of the cave. We trace markers into the caves deeper and deeper into the caves we go. We kill everything in sight and blow everything we cant handle with smart missiles. That right there is the mission at hand, but something tells me there is more to the mission now. You saw the number of missiles being fired. The shit is hitting the fan all the way around, there could be soldiers in trouble. You, Wolf, will have to listen for any and all distress calls there could be."

Vimes could still hear the screaching and shooting until the cave's mouth was behind him and suddenly the gun shots dissapeared and the screaching slowed severely. Only oppressive darkness and silence remained. He stopped and grinned, flicking on the light on thhe tip of his weapon. "Wolf? Do you feel anything?"

Wolf did likewise with his gun light and kept it low, just enough to see where he was going. As soon as the noise had died down, he began picking up traces of the mental lights, flitting in and out of range.

"We got a pack of bogies..." Wolf said quietly. Reavers... That was all it could be. So far, they were the only ones know to travel in groups, unless Tunnelers had started doing that. If so, they were screwed. In any case, Richard had yet to learn how to identify the different species solely on their mental aura. Well, unless it was something crazy, like a Wurm. That one was obvious...

"... Incoming." Richard raised his Jackhammer. "Unless there are tunnels that I can't see, mostly from the front."

Vimes raised his fist. "We keep out positions I still want the grunts in front. Gunner, look after the others. Sniper keep your gun out and keep it aimed for the leader. We keep moving."

At first Vimes couldn't hear a thing outside of their own breath. This was it, none of them had faced these creatures before as none of them had been on the planet before. Everything any of them knew was what had been written. No human intelligence, they were basically animals that with the bodies of insects. There was no sign that there were in any way in trouble or that there were any insects on thier way until the first screach hit his ear. There was a massive monster like screach with thick powerful clicking down in the darkness beyond the reach of the light. From silence to clicking so loud meant that the creatures knew they were there it was the only explaination. The could go from silent to loud so quickly. It was incredible.

"You hold your fire till we see what's comming for us. Wolf, you focus on getting us those numbers. How many and what are we dealing with, focus"

Wolf closed his eyes for a moment, a dangerous moment. Those bugs could pop out right then and he'd have two seconds that he couldn't react for want of sight. Costly during war. However, it was much easier to focus then... The screeches got louder as the balls of light came closer.

"We got at least seven... Two packs, minus one..." That worried him. Where was that other Reaver? Already dead, hopefully? There had been gunfire before... Nevertheless, Richard stood poised, opening his eyes.

"Here they come..."

[Tune]

The first of the reavers appeared, it form so much bigger than he had expected it to be. That was not the size of a large dog that was easily to size of a pony there were five in total that they could see but Vimes was inclined to believe in the Telepath.

"Open fire!" Vime roared aiming for the reaver moving quickest and taking the lead on, the reaver was impressively quick. It seemed to know that there was a gun pointed to its face as every single one ofthe five reavers bounced from lefto to right zig zagging quickly. This had never beeen mentioned before in the reports. Vime's finger locked on the trigger and chased after the beast as it got closer and closer.

Holly braced herself, pulling out her BNB. She took a quick drink of water, inhaling deeply as she did so. They were zigzagging, an unknown behavior for Reavers. She peered through the scope, her gun aimed for one of the Reavers on the flank. Vimes' seemed to be taking on one of the faster Reavers, leaving the others almost as easy pickings. She hesitated on the trigger, waiting for the beast to get far enough away from the others before she pulled the trigger, firing off a shot aimed for the creatures chest, and slid backwards a few feet, the metal of her gear digging into the ground.

Vimes coud feel the light of his own rifle, ulimating the darkness showing all five of the reavers comming at them but unlike the report the was not a reaver hanging in the background each one was commming right at them. Each bullet that hit dug in but didn't kill right away, instead tearing small holes into the flesh but still they moved forwards at high speed. The others started firing but the sight of the Grunt next to her sliding backwards. "Holly, are you alright?"

"Yes, sir!" Holly said into her ear piece, bracing herself by digging the gear's hand into the ground. She pulled out her rifle, ready to blow the heads off the beasts.

"Let's fucking kill these bastards and show them what we're made of!"

The wave of gun fire passed as one by one the powerful punch of their combined weapons knocked the weapons into the ground crushing the enemy till there was nothing moving. Vimes raised his fist as a symbol to cease fire. He was disappointed in their attack. there had only been five of the reapers instead of seven.

Vimes considered moving thee group forwards at a joggers pace but instead held his position. "We should stay here for moment. Reload, gain your bearings and keep in mind of your surroundings.

Holly stood back, though on the front line, reloading ammunition in her weapons. She could feel the water wearing off on her, but she followed her commander's order, and stood her ground, surveying the area. For all she knew,the gun fire should have drawn anything else to their location.

Vimes wasn't sure how long it had been before he finally decided to llean onthe tunnel walls to gain his bearings, he wasn't alone in the act, one of the most quiet grunts. Terrnace Flowerly had leaned next to him reloading for a moment. "That was not what I expected from this mission I mean and I-" Terrance Flowerly never finished his sentence. The very wall both him and Terrance were pressed against caved in and two clawed hands burst out of the rock revealing the first tunneler he'd ever seen himself. It dragged the grunt within the rock, leaving a crumbing hole inside of the tunnel.

Vimes was dumstruck, this was beyond his understanding it seemed imposssible that any creature could dig into the hard rock with the complete silence that the tunneler could handle. "Holy shit it! Holy shit holy shit!" Vimes yelled running at the hole in the earth which was crumbling right before his eyes.

Holly extended an arm, blocking Vimes from following after the tunneler. "Don't follow it unless you want to die." She paused, thinking about her next response, the next tactic. "We need to get out of here, the tunnel is unstable now. If we wait any longer, that thing's going to come back and kill us all."

Vimes shrugged her off heavily raising his gun to her but dropped it just as quickly, regaining his breath. "Dont fucking touch me." He yelled. "I want a grenade in that hole. It's crumbing to fast for us to follow but we can still try and find another way to get to him but I dont want any creatures comming at us from behind. Everyone stay to the middle of the tunnels. Wolf report it in." his eyes lingered upon the eyes of Holly. There was an apology in his heart but he needed to be firm in his choices, not to be led around so the apology didn't escape his lips.

"Lets move."

Holly saluted, "Sir, yes, sir!"

[Heavensguard92]

Liara kept her feet on the move behind her team. She knew they were heading to the armory, hell most of her time on the ship was in the armory. Constantly seeing to and upkeeping each weapon had become a habit since her induction. As their group passed by many other occupants of the mass vessel they were in, the armory came clear in view.

Without missing a beat, she made her way towards the long barrels amongst the weapons. A slot read "Olingard" and with it came full slung scouting armor and her long barrel of choice, a Vindicator EM rifle. Mostly used for anti-armor purposes, shots could penetrate the hulls and kill the occupants inside, and it held major draw backs on infantry battlegrounds like its massive kick. Despite this,
it is Liara's prefered weapon of conflict and damn hell been a good friend in the foxhole.

She slips on and straps down her body armor and slips on and seals off her boots. The rest of the body suit follows in fluidity and she stood entombed in the full body war suit.

She heard her leader bellow out again and she quickly followed the squad out of the armory into a fairly large elevator. The rear window of the elevator revealed vast destructive weapons at play, dacning lights of death appealed to a deep sense within the bubbly sniper.

The elevator stopped and the team disembarked into a service line. Liara learned that her boss seems to be fairly impatient to get onto the battlefield. That was of no concern for her, more of a plus in her book.

'Escape pods?' Dang, her boss just scored another point.

__________________________

After a brief experience of jamming good bit of well sized armored soldiers into pretty small pod. Landing shocks was a nice feeling in such cramped areas.

Filing out of the damned space-born tomb, she immediately sweeped the area for any fast-mobiles. 'Nothing' she thought as she made into her position of the squad formation.

Now heading into a cave may not give Liara much options in mobility, but at least it made sure her targets would be coming from one(or maybe two, depending on their luck) direction.

Their telepath began to feel out for any of the hostiles, and informed the squad of fast-mobiles inbound.

"....Sniper keep your gun out and aimed for the leader.." Liara heard her boss groan out. Her rifle was primed and ready, along with her trigger finger alittle antsy.

Then the telepath confirmed her thoughts. These things were very, very loud. A small wave swarmed out of the darkness. Liara's eyes traced them, each one matched one another on a very general basis. Some had slight scratches or wounds upon their thoraxes(at least she assumed was their thorax), but nothing held a distinguishing marker for a leader. She decided that which ever was the bigger than the rest was going to fall. Her rifle primed, a whirring sound echoed below the gunfire, and it was no flash of white to mark gunfire, no it was just the sound of the discharge and a very transparent blue trail that disembarked the custom longbarrel. The high calibur slug slammed into a reaver that was massed up slightly bigger than the rest of the pack, hitting center of mass, and popping out its rear with explosive gibblets. It slumped to the ground with no more than a screech.

Liara wasn't much better off. The kick of the rifle had felt like a sledgehammer to her shoulder, and that was mainly because she chose not to flow with the kick. Flowing with the kick would've prevent such pain, but it would've made lining up another shot alot longer.
The combined fire of the squad had torn up the remainders of the reaver pack.
A raised fist brought an end to the gunfire and Liara's eyes traced each of the bugs. The little bastards were much more resilient than what she had thought. Still, one shot from the Vindicator ended any life. She rubbed her shoulder, it was probably bruised for bracing the kick.

Before she could get a question toward her boss, a claws bursts from the walls and ensnared one of the grunts, she believed his name was Terry(maybe), and then disappear down its self-made tunnel. Inconciously, Liara stimmed up, her eyes became pin points, vessels were showing, her grip on her rifle tightened in anticipation. Most of all, her face bore a very chesire like grin, not that her helmet would reveal all that much.

Her rifle was already lining up a shot down the hole, had her boss and gunner not block sight of it.

All it took would be one shot to either end the grunt's life so he wouldn't suffer at the enemies hands or kill both the grunt and the bug.

Though the sniper already knew the answer, she wanted to ask ahead.

"Boss, if you want, I can atleast see if the dang thing was smart enough not to dig a tunnel straight?"

[SQJ]

The cave was crumbling too quickly Holly was wholly right to have stopped him and he knew it. "No, Laira what happened, just happened. The worst direction we could go is into the tunnel we need the open space just as that damn creature will need the open space. We all have the lay out of the caves in our heads from the what's been recorded. Wolf I'm guessing you got feelers from each of us and you most likely can connect to his mind. Is he still alive. Can we catch up?"

All this was being said at the pace of a sprint. Vimes had in no way considered giving up on one of his men but with his radio on he could hear that he was not the only one out there losing people. It was as though they were being ambushed inside of their own ambush but no new orders had been given, so far all he could hear what that they should keep pushing.

Was this what it meant to work for the service? Their men were dying, this was turning into a hellish situation and still they had to push. Vimes wasn't keen on it but he' be damned if he'd be the one to retreat in the face off hardship. So onwards he kept running until he reached a fork in the road. The cave widened enough to give the appearance that the were in a hall.

It as more nerve wracking the impressive. He hated how hard the rock was, it didn't make sense. He'd done the research. Caves weren't supposed to be this was naturally. Had something dug this up and if it had exactly how big was it? Vimes stopped raising his fist and turning to his telepath. "So? Left or right?"

[The Bartender]

As the unit reached the Armory, Alexis went toward the section of the Gunners in which she walked toward a female modified battle suit. It was almost 8' tall so she had to climb in it. After her spinal cord had been adapted into the suits artifical nerve system, Alexis moved to the weaponary and picked up an AX953, a plasma gun of the fifth generation. It wasn't the newest but Alexis liked it more than the new AX953-II which was heavier because of the more canisters it could be loaded with at time, this made it not so mobile and also it was even more davastating if it should be break.
Alexis loaded her suit with 4 plasma canisters and loaded two inside her gun. Every canister could fuel up about 100 rounds so she had roughly calculated 600 shots before running out of ammo, if she wouldn't have to use a canister as a bomb...
She also took the Gunner emergency package, a device designed for heavy gunners if they had to leave their combat suits. The emergency pack contained a light armor made of flexible cewlar-type material, a plasma blade, a light MO-12 type SMG with 200 crag rounds and 50 liters of water as well as an emergency beacon.

After stocking up, Alexis followed her troop to the escape pods;
"I hate flying, it's something for pilots, not for me..." She murmured but still stepped into the small pod in which the battle suit just barely fit in.
-------------------------

The bombardement was quiet heavy for a simple attack. The normal methode would be sent troops trained to fight in dark, stealth or at least closed rooms to this kind of missions in order to avoid being noticed by the creatures and then just slaughter them bit by bit but his was madness. Every f***ing monstrum in the whole cave system would know thew were here because of the noice the missiles caused, just stupid... Alexis thougt while walking in the front of the troop, her gun gripped in her hands.

"I want my gunner at the rear, sniper ahead of him. Medic and telepath in the middle and grunts supporting up front. Move it move it move it! Shoot anything that moves! Telepath, if you start feeling anyhitng that isn't your own dick I want to know! Now hurry up goddamn it" Said Vimes and the troop started to move into their formation, Alexis taking the lead...
Few moments later, Alexis could hear strange noices in the darkness, and then commandos from the others;

"You hold your fire till we see what's comming for us. Wolf, you focus on getting us those numbers. How many and what are we dealing with, focus"
"We got at least seven... Two packs, minus one..."

"Here they come..."

As the Reavers appeared, Alexis aimed for the left flank of the creepy creatures and fired toward them. She wasn't as reckless as many other gunner and fired only one bullet at time. This appeared to be a good tactic, because the shots that hit the ground made sharp shards to fly around as well as dust, making the sight worser. Luckily for them, they managed to kill all of the beasts quickly and before they reached them.


"We should stay here for moment. Reload, gain your bearings and keep in mind of your surroundings." Vimes said. Alexis sighed and took a sip of water. She had nothing to reload yet. She just stood in the same position as before, investigating the tunnel before them. It was strangely formed, propably made by a wurm or even worse...

"Holy shit it! Holy shit holy shit!" Vimes shouted and Alexis woke up from her day dream. An other Grunt had been caught by a tunneler and dragged away, at the same time Vimes wanted to save him.
"I wouldn't make any more useless attempts to help him." Alexis said calmly. "He is already gone. If he isn't dead yet, he is on his way into the nest of the tunnelers in where he is going to be feed to the young ones..." He went forward, shaking around from the tought.
"We should just move forward... He won't be the only dead one of us anyway...." Alexis finished while running besides the lance corporal.

[The Bartender]

As the unit reached the Armory, Alexis went toward the section of the Gunners in which she walked toward a female modified battle suit. It was almost 8' tall so she had to climb in it. After her spinal cord had been adapted into the suits artifical nerve system, Alexis moved to the weaponary and picked up an AX953, a plasma gun of the fifth generation. It wasn't the newest but Alexis liked it more than the new AX953-II which was heavier because of the more canisters it could be loaded with at time, this made it not so mobile and also it was even more davastating if it should be break.
Alexis loaded her suit with 4 plasma canisters and loaded two inside her gun. Every canister could fuel up about 100 rounds so she had roughly calculated 600 shots before running out of ammo, if she wouldn't have to use a canister as a bomb...
She also took the Gunner emergency package, a device designed for heavy gunners if they had to leave their combat suits. The emergency pack contained a light armor made of flexible cewlar-type material, a plasma blade, a light MO-12 type SMG with 200 crag rounds and 50 liters of water as well as an emergency beacon.

After stocking up, Alexis followed her troop to the escape pods;
"I hate flying, it's something for pilots, not for me..." She murmured but still stepped into the small pod in which the battle suit just barely fit in.
-------------------------

The bombardement was quiet heavy for a simple attack. The normal methode would be sent troops trained to fight in dark, stealth or at least closed rooms to this kind of missions in order to avoid being noticed by the creatures and then just slaughter them bit by bit but his was madness. Every f***ing monstrum in the whole cave system would know thew were here because of the noice the missiles caused, just stupid... Alexis thougt while walking in the front of the troop, her gun gripped in her hands.

"I want my gunner at the rear, sniper ahead of him. Medic and telepath in the middle and grunts supporting up front. Move it move it move it! Shoot anything that moves! Telepath, if you start feeling anyhitng that isn't your own dick I want to know! Now hurry up goddamn it" Said Vimes and the troop started to move into their formation, Alexis taking the lead...
Few moments later, Alexis could hear strange noices in the darkness, and then commandos from the others;

"You hold your fire till we see what's comming for us. Wolf, you focus on getting us those numbers. How many and what are we dealing with, focus"
"We got at least seven... Two packs, minus one..."

"Here they come..."

As the Reavers appeared, Alexis aimed for the left flank of the creepy creatures and fired toward them. She wasn't as reckless as many other gunner and fired only one bullet at time. This appeared to be a good tactic, because the shots that hit the ground made sharp shards to fly around as well as dust, making the sight worser. Luckily for them, they managed to kill all of the beasts quickly and before they reached them.


"We should stay here for moment. Reload, gain your bearings and keep in mind of your surroundings." Vimes said. Alexis sighed and took a sip of water. She had nothing to reload yet. She just stood in the same position as before, investigating the tunnel before them. It was strangely formed, propably made by a wurm or even worse...

"Holy shit it! Holy shit holy shit!" Vimes shouted and Alexis woke up from her day dream. An other Grunt had been caught by a tunneler and dragged away, at the same time Vimes wanted to save him.
"I wouldn't make any more useless attempts to help him." Alexis said calmly. "He is already gone. If he isn't dead yet, he is on his way into the nest of the tunnelers in where he is going to be feed to the young ones..." He went forward, shaking around from the tought.
"We should just move forward... He won't be the only dead one of us anyway...." Alexis finished while running besides the lance corporal.

[Jacogos]

Wolf was aware that the boss was asking him something, but the Telepath was already busy tracking the lost grunt. The feeling was getting faint with distance, but he could still track him.

"Yeah, yeah, I still got him. He's-" Richard pulled out of the mental contact as fast as he could, but the man still ended up retching at his feet. Bad things happened when a Telepath was closely linked to someone's mind when the latter died. Lucky for Richard, he was good enough to know when the dark door was shutting on a man's life. Wiping the spittle and vomit from his mouth, Richard shook his head slowly.

"He's gone..." Straightening, Wolf moved to follow their leader down the tunnel. It became apparent that he wasn't the only one worried about the state of their forces, though out of all of them, it appeared the Gunner was the least affected. Wolf shook his head at that, then wished he hadn't. Damn tunnelers... The group reached a fork, and suddenly it was up to him to decide. Wishing that he didn't have the ability, Richard produced his sonar device and took a quick note fo what it told him.

"Left. Right's a dead end, or at least it comes up as one. Might be blocked off or something." Wolf returned the pulse array to his suit and waited to follow Vimes.

[Tune]

Holly wasn't too keen on following the advice of a Telepath, but as a new member of the team -and her first mission- she'd have to trust the man.

The argument with Vimes had left her a little shaken, but she forced herself to ignore the nagging need to smack him for reprimanding her for doing her job - saving his life. If she hadn't, their team would have been without a leader, and there was no telling if they could make it without a veteran. Maybe with the Telepath, gunner and the medic -if they survived- but that was pushing it either way.

Turning down the left tunnel after Vimes, Holly silently prayed the Telepath's senses weren't wrong. There was no telling what could ambush them on either side but if fate's willing, they might just survive.

Focus; survival's never guaranteed, she thought.

Vimes chose the left path keeping the neitre group at a sprint. He knew they couldn't keep this up for long, there was no telling how long the bigger troops would be able to keep their water supplies if this battle were to drag on but there was little time to bare much thought into it. It was still the first hour and they had already lost a single man. So Vimes ran faster. "Move move move." He yelled into his microphone.

The entire group was deep into the tunnel, never once had it forked and it appeared to only be going down, which was getting to him. It was as though he was running into the center of the earth ass thought he was going down to meet the devil himself to shake his hand. He'd already send one of his own men ahead to face the devil and that was something he'd have to live with for the rest of his life.

What was worse was knowing that it was quite likely that he would be forced to watch another one fall into devil's grip. Catherine Vimes was rumored to know the name of every singe soldier who'd ever died under her command. Their serial numbers, date of birth dates, dates of death and something that on one else knew about them. Vimes himself knew nothing of his men, he'd had to think to remember their names.

He skid to a stop and signaled for a break making a circular gesture at the ground around them. Telling them to stay in the middle. Standing or sitting down was up to them, he turned to Holly. "It's Holly right? Where you from?"

She was surprised that he remembered her name. She hid her shock, and nodded her head, "Yes, sir. Holly Schilling. I'm from the U.S - North Carolina."

Holly wasn't sure what else to say to her commanding officer, especially in this type of situation. She shifted her weapons, and returned her focus on the tunnel ahead of her. If Vimes needed a conversation, maybe the Telepath would be a better companion.

"The Americas of course. Fuck man. The one nation that produces the most troops across all three hundred nations. Must make you feel weird right? I'm from the african nations. I always thought I'd be-"

He stopped talking. The sounds of screeching filled his ears and to stood up straight, his gun aimed. There was an explosion that rocked the ground beneath their feet then silence before the screeching din returned at it's regular decibels

"Just hang tight here for a moment, we just have to keep our cool."

Holly didn't have time to respond to him. Being from the states really didn't bother her that much. She knew where most of the troops were from, but there was little she could do about that. To her father, it just showed that America had pride. The screeching and explosion that rocked the ground beneath her feet had her on guard again. She had a bad feeling when things died down. Something wasn't right.

Vimes sighed dropping back down to a more relaxed position, drinking more water. Catherine was rumored to have taken a nap in the middle of an invasion and her men had loved her more for showing her composure. It had given them confidence, he hoped to god it would work but looking at his men he honestly doubted it was working.

It was frustrating.

A smile formed at the corners of her lips seeing her commanding officer relax in such stressful situations. She relaxed her weapons, and turned her head towards the Telepath.

"Do you sense anything, Wolf?" She cleared her throat and spoke across the mic again, "I mean, is it safe enough for a breather?"