Josam saw Urartu motioned for his band of Nomads, known as “The Ghost Soldiers”, to move forward. This was their second foray into the tower now known as “Hives End” to the denizens of the Ash Wastes. Josam was getting that feeling in the pit of his stomach again. The one that made him feel like the whole hive was pressing in on him. He kept saying to himself, “It’s just not natural” over and over again. Now could it be? Man could not have been meant to live one on top of the other like insects.
This expedition had been going much better than their previous adventure. After penetrating the exterior of the fallen tower with their krak grenades they had ventured some 500 meters into the depths of the monster. No spider-like men to ambush them this time. As the men approached an area of collapsed machinery Urartu brought them on-line, but spread out. The stench of decaying flesh was prevalent but the area ahead also looked ripe for salvage.
Using only hand and arm signals Urartu told Josam to move up a cooling tower. Even from the floor from which he acknowledged his leader’s orders Josam could tell it should have a commanding view of the dome beyond, an ideal sniper’s nest for him and his long rifle.
Once he arrived atop the cooler he caught sight of Ishik making his way up another cooler about 20 meters on his left, and Urartu and An-Nur making their way forward on a walkway below. Josam no longer watched his fellow nomads. Instead he turned his attentions to the shadows around the area. He was not about to allow an enemy free access to his mates without him knowing about it first.
“Speak of the devil”, Josam said to himself. Several shadowy shapes were moving across the way. Taking his time to be sure he counted five human sized shapes dispersing among the debris and moving in their direction. He placed his eye to the small optical scope on his rifle to get a better picture of what might be moving their way.
Three of the targets moved to his left towards Urartu and An-Nur, the other two were almost directly opposite of his position. They were being cautious. Never leaving the shadows, but they were obviously alerted to the nomads in their midst.
“It’s always better to shoot first and ask questions later I’ve always said”, Josam whispered to himself as he tweaked the range on his scope and leveled the crosshairs on the shadow closest to him.
Inhale, exhale slowly until the pause, steady squeeze…
The report from the long rifle shattered the stillness of the dome and made several unseen creatures skittering for even deeper crevices. More importantly he heard his target call out in surprise and fall writhing to the floor. His companion, to his credit, did not bolt and run away. Instead he began to run, following the shadows, to get closer to his position, and probably return fire.
Several las-rounds hissed through the air as their new enemy tried to get the range. Return fire started pattering ineffectively around his perch. Josam ignored the incoming fire as he sighted in on his next target.
“Damn,” he said to himself as his target slipped behind a small warehouse.
Moving his reticle to cover the others he now noticed that they each were wearing some sort of body suit. One hefting a plasma pistol in his right hand was making his way across a bridge while his boys were covering him from the rear.
Inhale, exhale slowly until the pause, steady squeeze…
This time his shot careened off of the bridge mere inches from the man’s head, but it had the secondary affect of causing him to duck involuntarily. This gave Urartu the opportunity to get completely across the bridge.
Looking back towards his original target and his friend Josam saw that the fellow was still rolling around in pain. Peering into the darkness he saw the faint outline of his friend moving slowly forward. As he approached a slight clearing he stopped. Josam couldn’t tell what he was doing, but he sighted in on where he anticipated the man to move to.
Inhale, exhale slowly until the pause….
Sure enough the man darted into the open. He had picked a good spot too. He would only be exposed for a second at the more. More than enough time, squeeze…
The impact of the round from Josam’s long rifle caused the man’s torso to suddenly jerk up and back causing the legs to kick out in front of him. He landed partway through his flip on his neck and shoulders, and when the body came to a stop it didn’t move again.
With the immediate threat to his front neutralized Josam turned his attention back to the bridge. He no longer saw the man in the jumpsuit, but he did catch site of An-Nur running back across the bridge without Urartu. His scope brought out a lot of detail but it lacked illumination capabilities. There, under the lifting platform, he saw Urartu. He was gripping his right leg. He was in pain, but it didn’t look serious. His leader was pinned down by the enemy fire, but he should be safe where he sat.
Lifting and shifting his sight picture he followed the bridge to where it ended just above Urartu. There was his target. He was readying himself for a charge down the ladder to get at Urartu.
Inhale, exhale slowly until the pause, steady squeeze…
The round ricocheted off the ferocrete just in front of the man causing him to pull his head and shoulders back behind cover.
The return fire was waning so Josam lifted himself up a bit and could tell that the men in the bodysuits were pulling back. Even the man on the bridge seemed to have better thoughts. Watching them as they went, to make sure they didn’t change their mind, Josam let them slip back into the shadows beyond the dome.
Ishik and Josam stayed in their perches to cover An-Nur as he checked on Urartu. Urartu had pulled himself against a bulkhead and looked to be ok. Once An-Nur gave him a once over he looked up at the snipers and gave a nod. With that Ishik climbed down and helped An-Nur search through the rest of the dome. In several locations there were overturned cabinets and enough tools and other items of interest that they were going to be eating well tonight.
Josam was already enjoying the thought of getting back our from under this monstrosity.
20060319
20060313
Discovering the Lie
There was something about the cloud cover today. Light coming from the hive factories was refracting off of the chemicals in the air into a cascading rainbow affect. Adjusting his respirator Josam pulled his coat’s hood up and over his head. As beautiful as the colors were, they revealed that there was a higher than normal concentration of acidic material in the air, and unless he took extra precautions he and his equipment would begin to burn. Once he secured his head gear he wrapped his long rifle and archaic sword in a bundle of rags. If it weren’t for the fact that he had to scrounge for food he’d be safely tucked away in his shelter like most of the sane denizens of the Ash Wastes.
With the recent collapse of a tower off of Hive: Primus an ash storm whipped up that stripped away layers of wastes exposing things not seen in over a millennium, maybe more. Sometimes ancient tech will become accessible again after such storms, abandoned sections of the hive, an old transportation tube, or even a crashed stratoplane – all containing things long forgotten. With things looking bleak for his band, “The Ghost Soldiers”, now was the time to take full advantage of what might have been uncovered – before the ash wastes reclaims her secrets. Normally such discoveries called for going back for more of his fellow nomads to work as a team, but his clan had all been wiped out when the tower fell from above. Only he, An-Nur, Ishik, and their leader Urartu survived. And Urartu lay recovering from his wounds suffered during their first foray into the tower. Not good. Their supplies were gone and unless they found something to barter with, the wastes would claim them as well.
Not far from the new massive landmark, and close to the hive wall itself, Josam discovered an old transport tube. It had long since caved in, and there obviously no way to access the hive through it but, the section of tube leading out into the wastes remained intact.
Once inside the tube Josam slid into the shadows to allow his eyes to adjust and to listen for anything that may be living down here. Just because he was new to this cave didn’t mean that something else couldn’t call it home. Although he could not be certain there appeared to be a light emanating from somewhere in the distance. Once he had adjusted to his surroundings Josam headed for it.
Although he had seen florescent fungi the color of this light didn’t match, but it was also not bright enough to determine what was making it. After walking for over an hour the source of the light was found. Along the side of the tunnel an area had been carved out of the bedrock to facilitate a work yard. Old work vehicles, small tool sheds, and one larger facility. Jackpot! With all of the vehicle parts alone they could make a fortune. But it would not be wise to return to Urartu empty handed.
Looking around he opted to look through one of the small sheds a bit further back from the edge of the road. Outside there was what was left of a small flatbed truck, upturned on its roof. Its frame exposed in several parts and a lot of small arms holes in what was left. Between the truck and shed lay three mummified bodies. It was impossible to tell if they had been male or female, but they were all adult sized and no apparent mutations. How they died though was not a mystery. Josam knew what a wound from a shotgun looked like, and these wounds had been fatal and delivered at close range.
Inside laid two more bodies in a similar state as to those he had seen previously. These two lay in the middle of what must have been a workshop. Several large tools, still standing upright, were set up in a fashion on the right side, and on the left lay a neat pile of some kind of material that Josam had never seen before. His curiosity peeked he stepped over the two corpses to get a closer look. The material was stacked in long rows, and had a rough texture to it. It was not cold like metal, and they had some sort of ‘veins’ running the length of them. After some further thought he doubted that it would last very long and moved towards a small room he had seen as he crossed the workshop.
As he approached the doorway he saw five more of the mummies piled one on top of the other in various positions impeding access to the room. When he got up on the door he found one more. This one was sitting against the wall to the right and a large pole jutting out from its ribcage for about a meter.
Stepping over the pile of bodies Josam kept his eye on the last one. He felt drawn to it, almost like it was calling to him. If it was not for the spear sticking out of him it looked like he just fell asleep and never woke up. His left hand lay on top of the shaft of the spear, but not clutching it. Instead it held a small picture. Time had eroded the image so that details could not been made out, but there were three human shaped forms within. In his right hand he still held a data reader, about the size of couple of lasgun cells fastened together.
Josam’s eyes were drawn to the reader. What kind of coin would this fetch out in the market place? He reached down, and as he pulled it free from the dead man’s hands he glanced up into his face. He looked so peaceful.
When the corpse’s hand fell from the data display the small screen lit up. Compulsively he looked at it and read the last words that this man had ever seen…
He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great. You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip; I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, and did not turn back until they were consumed. I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise; they fell under my feet. For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me. You made my enemies turn their backs to me, those who hated me, and I destroyed them.
“Humph, it doesn’t look like your enemies were destroyed to me. It looks like you were the one being destroyed.” He said aloud to no one.
Once he secured the data reader in his pack he returned to the overturned truck. With out tools he was only able to procure a few broken pieces from the engine. He wanted to use them as evidence when he returned.
With those few trinkets he headed back to the surface and his fellow nomads.
With the recent collapse of a tower off of Hive: Primus an ash storm whipped up that stripped away layers of wastes exposing things not seen in over a millennium, maybe more. Sometimes ancient tech will become accessible again after such storms, abandoned sections of the hive, an old transportation tube, or even a crashed stratoplane – all containing things long forgotten. With things looking bleak for his band, “The Ghost Soldiers”, now was the time to take full advantage of what might have been uncovered – before the ash wastes reclaims her secrets. Normally such discoveries called for going back for more of his fellow nomads to work as a team, but his clan had all been wiped out when the tower fell from above. Only he, An-Nur, Ishik, and their leader Urartu survived. And Urartu lay recovering from his wounds suffered during their first foray into the tower. Not good. Their supplies were gone and unless they found something to barter with, the wastes would claim them as well.
Not far from the new massive landmark, and close to the hive wall itself, Josam discovered an old transport tube. It had long since caved in, and there obviously no way to access the hive through it but, the section of tube leading out into the wastes remained intact.
Once inside the tube Josam slid into the shadows to allow his eyes to adjust and to listen for anything that may be living down here. Just because he was new to this cave didn’t mean that something else couldn’t call it home. Although he could not be certain there appeared to be a light emanating from somewhere in the distance. Once he had adjusted to his surroundings Josam headed for it.
Although he had seen florescent fungi the color of this light didn’t match, but it was also not bright enough to determine what was making it. After walking for over an hour the source of the light was found. Along the side of the tunnel an area had been carved out of the bedrock to facilitate a work yard. Old work vehicles, small tool sheds, and one larger facility. Jackpot! With all of the vehicle parts alone they could make a fortune. But it would not be wise to return to Urartu empty handed.
Looking around he opted to look through one of the small sheds a bit further back from the edge of the road. Outside there was what was left of a small flatbed truck, upturned on its roof. Its frame exposed in several parts and a lot of small arms holes in what was left. Between the truck and shed lay three mummified bodies. It was impossible to tell if they had been male or female, but they were all adult sized and no apparent mutations. How they died though was not a mystery. Josam knew what a wound from a shotgun looked like, and these wounds had been fatal and delivered at close range.
Inside laid two more bodies in a similar state as to those he had seen previously. These two lay in the middle of what must have been a workshop. Several large tools, still standing upright, were set up in a fashion on the right side, and on the left lay a neat pile of some kind of material that Josam had never seen before. His curiosity peeked he stepped over the two corpses to get a closer look. The material was stacked in long rows, and had a rough texture to it. It was not cold like metal, and they had some sort of ‘veins’ running the length of them. After some further thought he doubted that it would last very long and moved towards a small room he had seen as he crossed the workshop.
As he approached the doorway he saw five more of the mummies piled one on top of the other in various positions impeding access to the room. When he got up on the door he found one more. This one was sitting against the wall to the right and a large pole jutting out from its ribcage for about a meter.
Stepping over the pile of bodies Josam kept his eye on the last one. He felt drawn to it, almost like it was calling to him. If it was not for the spear sticking out of him it looked like he just fell asleep and never woke up. His left hand lay on top of the shaft of the spear, but not clutching it. Instead it held a small picture. Time had eroded the image so that details could not been made out, but there were three human shaped forms within. In his right hand he still held a data reader, about the size of couple of lasgun cells fastened together.
Josam’s eyes were drawn to the reader. What kind of coin would this fetch out in the market place? He reached down, and as he pulled it free from the dead man’s hands he glanced up into his face. He looked so peaceful.
When the corpse’s hand fell from the data display the small screen lit up. Compulsively he looked at it and read the last words that this man had ever seen…
He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your gentleness made me great. You gave a wide place for my steps under me, and my feet did not slip; I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, and did not turn back until they were consumed. I consumed them; I thrust them through, so that they did not rise; they fell under my feet. For you equipped me with strength for the battle; you made those who rise against me sink under me. You made my enemies turn their backs to me, those who hated me, and I destroyed them.
“Humph, it doesn’t look like your enemies were destroyed to me. It looks like you were the one being destroyed.” He said aloud to no one.
Once he secured the data reader in his pack he returned to the overturned truck. With out tools he was only able to procure a few broken pieces from the engine. He wanted to use them as evidence when he returned.
With those few trinkets he headed back to the surface and his fellow nomads.
20060305
Establishing Oneself
Urai led the survivors of his hit team further into the factory dome. The devestation was fairly widespread, and it was obvious that the factory would not be of much use for a very long time. As his team came into a packaging area he recognized it to be a good ambush area and dispirsed his team so that no more than any one man could be taken out at a time. He wanted to get back to the hive and find out what had happened, and that would be made harder should he lose anyone else on his team.
As Bulger cleared a small pile of debris he caught site of a man with a hood over his head and carrying a very sinister looking flamer in his hands. Before he even thought about letting Urai know about it he brought up his shotgun and let fly a scatter shot – with no visible affect.
Urai and the rest of the Delaque immediately responded by moving into covering positions. Urai took Smog with him and quickly climbed up to a bridge to get a better angle on the developing battlefield. As he cleared the center of the small bridge two more of the cowled enemy appeared on a bridge slightly higher than his and they opened fire. One round coming close enough for Urai to flinch involuntarily.
Smog dashed past him to get into cover among the girders at the end. As he reached his new barricade he dropped the nozel to his flamer across the debris and let fly a jet of flaming gel. Although the smoke obscurred his view Urai had noticed the two Cawdor gangers stop their rush across their bridge. Using this temporary concealment Urai managed to get clear of the bridge next to Smog.
“Good work. Get up higher. I’ll cover you from here,” Urai told Smog as he slapped him on his shoulder.
Smog took an adjacent ladder while Urai sighted in on the bridge. The Cawdor also had used the smoke to their advantage and had made it to the far side of a connecting catwalk and were preparing to cross when they used a flamer of their own to spew forth some more smoke. Not wanting to wait until his enemies had cleared this new cloud Urai opened up spraying the area with his bolt gun. Miniature explosive missiles sailed into the darkness and could be heared impacting against both metal and flesh. Screams could be heard in the distance and the opposing flame thrower also ceased to be a hinderance.
Now that the area immediately around Urai had settled down he could hear yet more gunfire. A mixture of assault rifle, shotgun, and las rounds shattering the quiet. Smog sent another stream of flamming fuel from up above out across the catwalks in front of Urai. The temporary light source revealed that one of Cawdors had taken a header and lay motionless some 20 meters below. Shouts of retreat could be heard and the hooded fanatics began to slip into the darkness.
“Hey Boss! You might wanna get down here!”
Urai couldn’t tell who was yelling to him, but it came from somewhere below. Smog dropped down beside him and they took turns covering each other as they made their way to the dome floor. By the time they got their the prone Cawdor he had seen just a minute ago was gone.
“Over here,” Snake yelled from their left.
As they approached Snake was kneeling over what had been Grissom. His body had been impacted several times, but it was the hole in his right temple that told the final outcome.
“Leave him. We can’t be weighed down with dead weight right now – no pun intended.” Urai said as he turned to leave. He glanced down and noticed that the autogun Grissom had carried had at least sheilded its owned from several rounds before he fell.
His job of gettng his team home just got a whole lot harder.
As Bulger cleared a small pile of debris he caught site of a man with a hood over his head and carrying a very sinister looking flamer in his hands. Before he even thought about letting Urai know about it he brought up his shotgun and let fly a scatter shot – with no visible affect.
Urai and the rest of the Delaque immediately responded by moving into covering positions. Urai took Smog with him and quickly climbed up to a bridge to get a better angle on the developing battlefield. As he cleared the center of the small bridge two more of the cowled enemy appeared on a bridge slightly higher than his and they opened fire. One round coming close enough for Urai to flinch involuntarily.
Smog dashed past him to get into cover among the girders at the end. As he reached his new barricade he dropped the nozel to his flamer across the debris and let fly a jet of flaming gel. Although the smoke obscurred his view Urai had noticed the two Cawdor gangers stop their rush across their bridge. Using this temporary concealment Urai managed to get clear of the bridge next to Smog.
“Good work. Get up higher. I’ll cover you from here,” Urai told Smog as he slapped him on his shoulder.
Smog took an adjacent ladder while Urai sighted in on the bridge. The Cawdor also had used the smoke to their advantage and had made it to the far side of a connecting catwalk and were preparing to cross when they used a flamer of their own to spew forth some more smoke. Not wanting to wait until his enemies had cleared this new cloud Urai opened up spraying the area with his bolt gun. Miniature explosive missiles sailed into the darkness and could be heared impacting against both metal and flesh. Screams could be heard in the distance and the opposing flame thrower also ceased to be a hinderance.
Now that the area immediately around Urai had settled down he could hear yet more gunfire. A mixture of assault rifle, shotgun, and las rounds shattering the quiet. Smog sent another stream of flamming fuel from up above out across the catwalks in front of Urai. The temporary light source revealed that one of Cawdors had taken a header and lay motionless some 20 meters below. Shouts of retreat could be heard and the hooded fanatics began to slip into the darkness.
“Hey Boss! You might wanna get down here!”
Urai couldn’t tell who was yelling to him, but it came from somewhere below. Smog dropped down beside him and they took turns covering each other as they made their way to the dome floor. By the time they got their the prone Cawdor he had seen just a minute ago was gone.
“Over here,” Snake yelled from their left.
As they approached Snake was kneeling over what had been Grissom. His body had been impacted several times, but it was the hole in his right temple that told the final outcome.
“Leave him. We can’t be weighed down with dead weight right now – no pun intended.” Urai said as he turned to leave. He glanced down and noticed that the autogun Grissom had carried had at least sheilded its owned from several rounds before he fell.
His job of gettng his team home just got a whole lot harder.
Home Turf
Illy risked a glance over the low girder wall. What arrogance! “Those Van Saar boys actually think they can stroll right on into her turf!” She thought to her self. Glancing at Eve she made a sign to wait until they were in the open.
Shifting her feet Illy tried to see where the rest of her “Harlequins” had taken up their postitions. Yona and Dona, twins, had taken up a good hide position on a bridge a little bit further down. Prima was nowhere to be seen, but knowing her she was on ground level ready to swoop right in for a kill or two of her own.
Glancing back down their targets were just getting into the killzone Illy had picked out. Eve was already sighting down the barrel of her plasm gun. Illy tapped Eve on the shoulder and she slowly stood up to get a better angle on the Van Saar gangers below.
Eve let loose a full burst from her gun sending shots of super charged plasma into the gangers below. Before the Van Saar leader could even react two of his men were down and screaming.
Yona and Dona added their own automatic rifle fire from the bridge and the Van Saar began to try and return fire. But it was too late. Shouting to his men to pull back Illy signaled her girls to cease fire.
“Thanks for the dance boys,” Illy shouted. “Come on back anytime you want to play with the Harlequins again!”
Shifting her feet Illy tried to see where the rest of her “Harlequins” had taken up their postitions. Yona and Dona, twins, had taken up a good hide position on a bridge a little bit further down. Prima was nowhere to be seen, but knowing her she was on ground level ready to swoop right in for a kill or two of her own.
Glancing back down their targets were just getting into the killzone Illy had picked out. Eve was already sighting down the barrel of her plasm gun. Illy tapped Eve on the shoulder and she slowly stood up to get a better angle on the Van Saar gangers below.
Eve let loose a full burst from her gun sending shots of super charged plasma into the gangers below. Before the Van Saar leader could even react two of his men were down and screaming.
Yona and Dona added their own automatic rifle fire from the bridge and the Van Saar began to try and return fire. But it was too late. Shouting to his men to pull back Illy signaled her girls to cease fire.
“Thanks for the dance boys,” Illy shouted. “Come on back anytime you want to play with the Harlequins again!”
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