# Grey Ghosts



## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

'loes all. This is a sequel to a fic I wrote a while back, _409_. It was well received and I thought I'd tack on a bit more about the prestigious 409th Orbital Drop Jet. If you didn't catch it, there is a link Here

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Dramatis Personae

ZULU SQUAD, 409th Orbital Drop Jet Jumpers

Cpt. Erica Grey- Commander, Active
Lt. Robert Daniels- ASL, Active
Sgt. Maj. Holden Rostock, Active
Sgt. Sarah Lorien, Spotter .50, Active
Cpl. Leonard Richards, Special Weapon- RPG-24, Active
Spc. Rachel Jackson, Special Weapon- Sniper .50, Active
Pfc. David Flint, Active
Pvt. Ryan "Shine" Wolff, Active

AQUILA SQUAD, 409th Orbital Drop Jet Jumpers

Cmo. James Riley, Medicae, Active

ECHO WING 409TH DROP JET SUPPORT

Valkyrie A-0227 "Angel"

Eich "Ike" Samuels, Pilot, A-0227

Ferik Thatcher, Gunner, A-0227

INQUISITION

Inquisitor Pontius Estelle

Scribenor Gregor Harks

???
Zeke

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

Chapters

1. LZ HOT
2. BREAKING THROUGH
3. DIGGING IN
4. REBELS
5. THE GREY GHOST
6. ABILITY
7. THE HUNT
8. INCURSION
9. REVENGE
10. 13 NIGHTS
11. LAST OUT
12. NO WAY HOME?

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

PREFACE
======

INQUISITORIAL REPORT
Subject- Inspection (Storm Trooper Regiment)

Regiment- 409th ODJJ 

World- N/A

Operational Strength- 224Active Duty, 2,709 KIA, 48 MIA

Regiment Type: Drop Troopers, HALO Ops

Grade (P/F): P (Override F grade, Inquisitorial Clearance)

Any Improvments- N/A

-Munitorum Marshal Steven Dahw, Inquisitor Pontius Estelle

-------------------
OVERRIDE CODE MAGENTA
Vox transcript intercept 001882-19437(A)

Playing.

ZL409G- What the hell?

ZL409D- I kept telling him about that.

ZL409F- Just help me down!

ZL409D- Nah. I like it better like this. Funnier. More humiliating for you.

ZL409G- How did you manage to-

ZL409D- I lent him my rappelling gear. Genius didn't figure out he had to anchor it.

ZL409F- Damn it, Daniels! Get up here!

ZL409J- What's going on? Oh, shit. That's great. Richards, go get a pic caster. I want that for the 409 scrapbook.

ZL409D- Maybe put your little friend in there too?

ZL409J- The Inquisitor told you not to whine about that. 

ZL409D- Not whining...just...observing. Come on, we gotta get him down now.

ZL409G- I suppose. Hang on, Fish. We gotcha.

ZL409F- Finally. Been up here for an hour.

(Transcript received from Engineering section, ISNF _Imperical_, en route to Jorian IV)


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## zboy234 (Dec 29, 2007)

Gotta love the fish, looking forward the 409th's exploits


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## waltzmelancholy_07 (Sep 30, 2008)

WOOHOOO!!!... 409ers are back!!!... Go Dirge!...:victory:


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks guys. I love to see the 409th has lost none of it's... charm. lol.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

LZ HOT
"_It's small arms. One in a million shot._"
- Last words of Valkyrie A-0224's pilot.
----------------------

Daniels sat on a folding chair in the hallway leading to the squad's dorms. A young man with a fresh-faced look and immaculate armor stared down at him. Daniels set the holozine he was reading down and stared at him.

"What do you want, Shine?" he asked calmly.

"Um. Private Ryan Wolff, reporting. Sir." said the trooper. He curled his lip at the black checks decorating the heavy drop armor Daniels wore. 

"Isn't that against regs, sir?" he asked, indicating his own set of grey camo armor.

"Shut up, Shine. And stop calling me "sir". I'm a Sergeant. Not the goddamned president."

Wolff swallowed and entered the small atrium that led into the six rooms issued to Zulu Squad of the 409th Drop Jet. Richards sat on an ammo crate, playing a game of tarot with Rostock while Rachel sipped a glass of purified fyceline alcohol. Flint and Lorien were gone. Erica Grey leaned out from her cabin and gestured at Wolff, who was followed in by Flint. Flint sat at the crate with Richards and tapped his shoulder, pointing at the recruit. 

Grey sat behind a desk in front of a menacing suit of red-splotched drop armor. 

"What do you want, Shine?" she asked. Wolff dropped his bag on the floor. 

"Well, I want to fight, sir. Ma'am." he said.

"The 409th has the highest casualty rate in the Guard, Shine. That guy out there, Flint? He's been here four months and already has three Medallion Crimsons. He's a crazy frakker, but he's good. Are you _on form_, Shine?"

"Ma'am?"

Grey rubbed her fingers on the bridge of her nose, sighing.

"Wolff, can you frakking take a bullet?" she said calmly. 

"I think so, ma'am."

"Then grab a bunk." she gestured out. 

Wolff nodded and carefully exited, scooting around a young woman cradling a heavy sniper and a cleaning rag. He set his gear down in a room with STORAGE printed over the door. An army cot was set up next to a stack of five hundred grade detonite.

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

Flint helped him strap into his armor, and clapped him on the shoulder. The man's own suit was covered in crazed runes and tribal swirls in black ink. His visor was cracked on the edge, and a large knife was holstered on his back.

"Why do people keep calling me Shine?" asked Wolff. Flint smiled.

"They called me "Fish", Shine. New Fish. You're "Shine", because your armor is shiny and new, just like you." he said. He prodded Wolff's chestplate for emphasis and walked down the Valkyrie's ramp.

Rostock walked up to him and clapped him on the shoulder, and just stared into his visor for a second. His armor was covered in chipped blue stripes. A Sergeant's chevrons were painted on his brow.

"I'm Rostock." he said. "You can call me Ross, or Sarge."

Wolff nodded, checking his Hellgun. "Gotcha, Sarge."

"Ladies, this is your captain speaking. ETA to Jorian four minutes. We know you don't have a choice for flying but thank you for choosing Ike Airlines." said Eich, the pilot, over the comms. 

A strong wind buffeted the ship as it slipped into the atmosphere. Grey leaned forward and activated a holoslate.

"Jorian IV, guys. Pretty boring assed place, really. We're here for six days to chill out and protect a delegate from the Administratum. Got it, brickheads? Alright. Let's make it happen, Zulu."

The squad nodded affirmations and the two women across from Wolff tapped their helmets' brows together. One was clad in horrifically red splattered armor. The other had a red ring drawn over her heart with the words SHOOT ME HERE stenciled below it. The red-splattered one held out a hand, the other gripping a massive .50 sniper rifle.

"Rachel Jackson. Here you've got two choices, Shine. Shut up, or get snuffed." she said.

"Excuse me?" asked Wolff. Rachel shook her head.

"We've got things, Mr. Wolff, that we'd rather not speak about in front of the Commissariat. Now, shut up, or take a swim." 

She gestured at the airlock at the Valkyrie's rear.

Wolff swallowed and shook her hand. 

"Great." she said calmly, and took a bar of candied fruit from her pocket, giving half to the spotter sitting next to her.

"LZ is _not_ hot, Zulu." said Eich, sounding bored. "This place sucks."

Zulu laughed with one voice and then cocked their weapons. Wolff looked around. The Valkyrie bumped slightly as it kissed the pavement of Jorian Spaceport. Zulu bailed out with a speed that came from months of hard deployments and bitter wars. 

"Welcome to the 409th, Shine. Carry this." said Daniels. He handed Wolff a massive rocket launcher, and Richards tossed a satchel of ammunition on top of it.


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## waltzmelancholy_07 (Sep 30, 2008)

Yahoo!!!:victory:... A new recruit!.... Hope he stays alive til the end!:grin:...


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks! It took me a while to come up with "Wolff". I'm trying not to repeat names and it's getting harder >.<
------------------

BREAKING THROUGH
"_What do I think about it? I don't know, really. No one's asked me before._"
-Cpl. Jack Taylor, 409th ODJJ
-------------------

The Administratum official met them in the terminal, cradling a fat tome and a quill. Chins rolled down his frame and a dozen medals were pinned to a straining set of robes. He smiled smugly as Zulu approached. A small retinue of wide-eyed neophytes stared at them from behind the man.

"Ah, you must be Captain Grey." he said, holding a hand out to Daniels. He coughed back a laugh and gestured to the power sword at Grey's hip.

"Captain Erica Grey." she said smoothly. She held out a hand and the man stared at it with distaste.

"Really, now? I was under the impression my entourage would be led by a man." he said with undisguised steel in his voice.

"Men are all idiots." said Rachel quietly, over the comm. Lorien snickered. Grey didn't give any indication she'd heard. Wolff lagged behind, carting the heavy rocket launcher.

"And why did you bring _that_?" asked the adept. "My naysayers are not driving Predators, you know."

Grey lowered her hand to the butt of her hellpistol. "Yeah, but it'll make a mighty fine mess of this waste of space."

"I beg your pardon!?"

"I gotta say, gov, looks like a pile of rubble from my angle. Richards, how much detonite you think it'd take to put that palace into orbit?"

She pointed to the Imperial Palace looming over the city.

"Eh, maybe one hundred kilos, ma'am." said Richards smoothly. He pulled an unactivated det from his pocket and squeezed it.

"_Boom_. That'd make their eyes water."

Grey smiled coldly at the man, now sweating a pale sheen across his face.

"Perhaps I may have misjudged you, Captain." he said. 

"Perhaps you have." said Grey. "Zulu, can the Adept offer you a ride?"

Rostock nodded, and a black Arbites Rhino rolled up, the entire party crouching inside. The adept smacked his lips.

"I am Scribenor Pelenius, Senior Writer of Billing and Parchments First Class." said the man, holding a pale hand out. Grey shook it. Flint nudged Wolff and pointed out the firing slits in the Rhino's sides. The Palace grew larger and larger in their vision, until it swallowed them through a massive blast door at it's base. They stepped off the Rhino and into a cargo elevator, Pelenius stepping around the sparse patches of oil and soot on the ground. The party exited onto the main floor and the squad spread out instinctively, Grey looked back and forth for the best defensive spots. 

"What are you worried about, Captain?" asked Pelenius, dismissing the rest of the squad with a wave. "This planet is perfectly safe. I made sure before I came here."

Grey's lip curled in distaste behind her rebreather. "Adept, one day I would love to tell you the story of an old recruit of mine- guy named Loskins. And then you would realize there's no such thing as "safe."

Pelenius nodded slowly, making his chins wobble. "I see, Captain. Perhaps your troops would like a rest? It's been a long flight for you."

_Sixteen minutes, a long flight? Civvies._ thought Grey.

"I suppose. Where are we bunking?" she asked.

"Oh, you have the residential quarters on the first floor." said Pelenius, and walke dback to the elevator.

The residential units were the most decadent lodgings Zulu had ever seen. Velvet covered everything, and massive four-poster beds stood in the rooms. The central atrium was polished marble with dusty statues and a small fountain.

Grey looked around in distaste. Richards threw his field bag down in the atrium and set up a small nest of sorts, before laying down prone with his rifle aimed at the door. 

"I like it here, cappie." said Rostock. "They know how to treat a guy."

"Not a girl, sorry." Grey chuckled. "Just like back home?"

Rostock smiled. "Yeah. Old dad back in the Royal Imeru Navy. Power sword three centuries old and a uniform like a bordello's drapes. More money then you could shake a stick at."

Grey looked at the sergeant. "And you gave it up?"

Rostock nodded slowly. "I suppose I did. Money's not everything. I basically gave up being a rich asshole to be an armed asshole."

Richards sat up and rolled over, looking up at the chandelier hanging from the ceiling.

"I bet I could knock that down with one shot." said Richards.

"Nah. Two shots." replied Flint conversationally. The young trooper handed Richards an antipersonnel pine and the man threw it into a planted topiary in the hall, wiring the detonator in his pocket.

"Two shots? A grot could get it in two."

"No way you'd knock that sucker down in one, Rich. Sorry."

Richards gave Flint a light shove and the pair laughed. Rachel and Lorien walked down the hall with Daniels, Rachel throwing a quizzical look at the booby-trapped topiary before nodding to Grey.

"We've got nothing to do for two days, boss." she said. She had her helmet hugged against her chest, and oddly girlish pose for the veteran sniper. 

"Gonna be a long one." added Lorien. "Fat Man's not going anywhere until he makes an inspection of the Guard garrison two miles away."

Rostock stopped dead and turned, his gear half-disassembled.

"He needs an armed escort to go _two miles_?"

Rachel shrugged. "I guess. He's fat and pompous, Sarge. Probably has an armed escort take him to the 'freshers."

Grey sighed as Wolff leaned the rocket launcher against the wall, and began to walk away. The launcher fell and the trooper whipped around to catch it, mouthing _sorry_ and propping it up with the ammo satchel.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

409 HOO-RAH!! Hell yea Dirge, the 409th is back and badder than ever!


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## crabpuff (Aug 5, 2008)

Nice, one of these days you should sneak Anya into a 409 mission.


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## waltzmelancholy_07 (Sep 30, 2008)

That would be awesome!...


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

I thought about it for some time, actually, but I didn't figure her into this particular one. There is another ridiculously proficient killer in this story, and that's all I'm going to say. Think long and hard about the title, take a look at the Dramatis Personae, and you'll get it.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

haha i got it. very nice


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## waltzmelancholy_07 (Sep 30, 2008)

Oh... So that's why it's called Grey Ghost:grin:...


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

It's not Sable, if that's what you're thinking. He dead, sorry. 
--------------------------------------------------------

DIGGING IN
"_What use is a mine detector? Just stupid, useless weight. Frakking 28 pounds of sh-_"
-Last words of Pvt. Daniel Cross, 409th ODJJ, KIA due to unexploded subterranean ordnance.
---------------

Rachel yawned sleepily. She sat in the watchtower on the palace grounds, surrounded by a foot of reinforced permacrete and barbed wire. The sniper rested on the parapet, and Lorien sat beneath it, bouncing a paper ball off the opposite side of the tower. 

"Anything?" she asked. Rachel leaned over and picked her helmet from the ground, looking through the HUD.

"Well, if you're interested, fourty of the seventy crates on this thing are logged as criminal. This place isn't as boring as we thought."

Lorien chuckled. "Sounds like fun."

[Watchtower Seven, incoming contact bearing two-seven-niner, two thousand off the deck. Make a visual and report, over.] crackled the radio.

Rachel sighed and picked up the sniper, looking down the sights.

"It's Ike." she said lazily. "Got a confirm, tower. Valkyrie Two-Seven inbound, roger?"

[Roger that, Seven. Tower out.]

The Valkyrie swept over the walls and touched down in the circle of grass before the palace. Thatcher came running out the hatch, as Ike sat at the controls. The engines didn't stop, as normal. Rachel slid down the ladder and walked up to the idling craft, followed by Lorien.

"What's up?" she asked. Thatcher pointed at the sky.

"We got some serious shit inbound. The long-range picked it up twelve minutes ago. Rebels from Konaze, MAJCOM thinks, but we're frakked unless the navy shows up. They're sportin' light cruisers up there."

Rachel swallowed. "How long do we have?"

Lorien held a finger to her helmet, listening.

"Now, boss. Listen in."

Rachel slipped on her own helmet, and was deafened by the chatter.

"Inbound at sixteen-seven-two!"

"Contacts, seven heavy, closing at green four!"

"Confirmed enemy drop in the Market district, shots fired, repeat, shots fired."

"Hard contact with light troops at marker zero-four."

She cut through the mess with the priority override and signaled the squad.

"What's going on? Sounds like the shit hit the fan out there." said Grey.

"It did, boss. We got mike foxtrots out the ass here." replied Lorien.

"Shit. Get your stuff together and set a RV outside the city."

Rachel turned to Thatcher. "Set up camp at OBSAT nine, the relay station. We'll meet you there."

The man nodded and lunged back inside as Ike powered the craft off the ground.

Zulu Squad stormed across the manicured lawn, in full drop armor. Grey stopped the squad and looked at Rachel. 

"Where to? You've seen the maps." she said. Rachel swallowed.

"Relay nine for the OBSAT net. It's out of the way, obsolete." 

"Good enough. Where's that petulant idiot?" asked Grey. Richards hauled Pelenius by the collar of his coat. The fat adept held a golden laspistol that was encrusted with golden bass-reliefs. 

"A battle?" whimpered Pelenius. "This won't do, no no. You must get me to the spaceports!"

Grey shook her head. "Sorry, chap. Spacelanes are clogged up with rebs. We aren't going anywhere until the navy shows."

Pelenius' retinue trembled behind the man.

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

Flint and Wolff stepped off the curb, walking by a gutted civvie bus. The squad stomped after the pair, leading the adept's group.

They took cover in a bakery, the owners laying dead at the door. Richards opened the door with the muzzle of his hellgun and fired a shot into a man in the process of looting the store's credit register. The man fell like a sack of bricks and Zulu stepped through into the back alley. A low rumble filled the air as a few of Madrasa's PDF pilots flashed overhead, dropping munitions onto the strongpoints. 

"Frakking PDF knew after we did." snarled Grey. "Worthless."

Pelenius licked his lips. His face was red and sweat dripped from him. Obviously the adept was feeling every extra pound. His retinue fared little better. They were ragged and weak from the three mile dash from the palace to the residential quarter.

A second rumble sounded.

"That's not planes." said Richards. He subconsciously reached behind him. Wolff looked down the street.

"Aw, frak. They've got a Russ." he said.

"Thanks, Shine, for stating the blinding frakking obvious." growled Daniels.

The tank rumbled past, and Richards leaned out of the building. A rocket flashed down the street and impacted on the tank's engine block. It stopped suddenly and began to reverse. It stopped facing the bakery's window and with a horrible screeching of gears, stalled. The gun rotated to face them.

"Shit." said Richards.

The bakery blew apart as a high-heat sabot round blew through the building. Zulu hit the floor instantly, in various states of profanity. One of Pelenius' scribes was killed from the intense pressure as the shell streaked past. His retinue staggered around the room, bloodied or in shock. 

"Give me that frakker." said Rostock. He heaved a scribe's body onto the windowsill and the tank's stubber opened fire, making the corpse shake and dance. 

"Sticky bomb, Sarge?" asked Lorien, holding up a soup can-sized chunk of C12 covered. Rostock nodded and took the device. He yanked the burlap cover off of it, and hurled it at the tank. It struck the driver's screen and held there. 

A massive blast blew the majority of the tank's front away, exposing the torched bones of the crew. The ammunition detonated with a roar. Zulu again ducked as a length of rebar whistled overhead, catching one of the scribes in the chest.

"Uh, frak!" yelled Richards. The trooper grabbed his shoulder and fell. Flint picked the man up and yanked a length of steel cable from the wound. Richards grunted. Flint pulled two single-use syringes from his vest and stabbed them into Richards' thigh. He patted the man on the shoulder and got up, inspecting the wreck. Rostock swept the square with his auspex.

"It's clear, captain." he said. Zulu crossed the stone pavilion, and left the city behind.

Pelenius swallowed heavily as they reached a small clearing, next to a brownish pond about five miles from the city walls.

"We'll set up here, tonight." said Grey. She dropped her kitbag onto the ground and flopped over on it, taking her helmet off and inhaling deeply. 

"Copy that, captain." said Flint in agreement. He sat against a tree. Wolff yawned and lay down near the pond using a camo net as a blanket.

"How far are we from the RV?" asked Grey, looking at Rachel.

"I'm not sure, boss. Maybe a day's hike."

Rostock snorted. "Our speed or his?"

He gestured at Pelenius.

"His." said Rachel. "If he's about as fast as he was today."

"If he gets slower I'll just run behind him with a bayonet." said Daniels. 

Pelenius smiled weakly. His two remaining acolytes looked around with ravaged stares. Doubtless they hadn't expected an attack.

Grey sat up, holding a hand out to Pelenius. The adept took it, surprised.

"Welcome to the 409th." said Captain Grey.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

brilliant dirge, need i say more?


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## lawrence96 (Sep 1, 2008)

me likey lots

always nice too see a story teller who consistently doesnt make the guard look like a worthless sack of blood FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!


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## waltzmelancholy_07 (Sep 30, 2008)

Hahaha... Nice!... I wasn't thinking about Sable:biggrin:...


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Appreciate the feedback, guys. Just like always ^^
--------------------------------------------

REBELS
"_Madrasa's creepy as hell at night. Some feeling you're being watched. Something. Odd shapes and sounds in the woods and half the time it's like you've got a crosshair on your ass._"
-War Journal of Pfc. David Flint, 409th ODJJ

OBSAT relay nine was little more then a rockcrete bunker built into the base of Mount Kijhad. A single dish antennae poked from the roof, and doors two spans thick were it's only entrance. Pelenius gasped weakly for air, his face covered in sweat and his steps leaden. Grey tapped on the door. It creaked open slowly, and Ike nodded a greeting.

"Where's the bird?" asked Grey. Ike nodded in the direction of the trees.

"About two klicks off, covered in camo nets and rigged to blow if anyone starts it up without my ID key."

"Nice." 

Ike nodded, and ushered them inside. The station was blessedly cool, and Pelenius sighed in rapture and toppled into a cushy modar op chair. 

"Heads up." said Flint. The sqaud turned as one as a man walked from the bushes. He wore armor identical to the 409th, but his had a white shoulderpad with a curved red sigil. He wore a satchel over his shoulder, and carried a hellgun. His helmet was white too, with the same red sigil on it's brow. A series of horrible brown-red stains had seeped into the gauntlets of his armor, along with his chest and legs. A stain that looked disturbingly like a handprint was slapped across his helmet, overlapping his visor.

"Kiley, is that you?" asked Rostock in disbelief.

"Holden? Damn, been a while!" said the man. The pair rapped each other's shoulders, the common gesture of welcome in the 409th. 

"Fellas, this is James Kiley, one of the best bonesaws out there." said Rostock.

Kiley smiled, but the smile faded quickly.

"I'm from Aquila, Holden. They're all KIA."

Rostock smacked his lips. "You can run with us, then. If we pick up another stray we'll have a full Drop Team, and we're gonna need the doc, I think."

Kiley had the sad look of a combat medic about him. He dropped his kitbag on a bunk and yawned widely. "You just might." he said.

He flopped onto the bunk and fell asleep in full armor, against the bag.

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

Later that night, Daniels sat bolt upright at the vox bead, listening. He flipped a switch and a voice suddenly blared over the bunker's speakers.

[To all Imperial Forces deployed on Madrasa, A glorious crusade to retake the world is preparing, but for now you must hold the line! Remember your Emperor, and your comrades, and you will prevail! Even now a vast battlefleet is en route to the Madrasa warzone with fresh troops and a complement of the glorious Ultramarines chapter! For the Emperor, soldiers! Do not give in!]

"You really think the blues are gonna show up?" asked Rachel.

"They might. Macragge's spacelanes run right through this system." replied Rostock. 

Richards swept off a table and began to play solitaire with a deck of tarot cards.

"War sucks." mused Flint. He was playing trash can basketball with a rolled up piece of flimsi. 

"Waiting around, more waiting around, even more waiting around, and _bam_."

Wolff was having a spirited conversation with Lorien in the corner, the spotter showing him how to use the observer glass and auspexes she held. Pelenius was asleep in the modar op's chair.

"What do you think is scarier?" asked Kiley. "A nid' swarm in full synapse, or whatever the frak's out in the woods?"

Rostock looked at Kiley.

"What do you mean, out in the woods?"

"You didn't see it, man?"

"See _what_, Kiley?"

The squad, as well as Pelenius and his scribes, gathered around as James Kiley began his tale.

-------------------------------------
_One day previously, 2200 hours._

Kiley stooped low, brushing a glove along the trail. Something had pressed the grass down.

He switched on his night vision and took cover, laying on his stomach prone off the trail. Crickets chirped in the distance, birds sang. A squirrel ran across the trail to his left. 

A rustle made his instincts scream _enemy, panic, fire_, but Kiley held his fire and froze, half in terror and half in curiosity.

A shape, fully six feet tall and draped in greying cloths, slid across the trail without making a single audible sound beyond a slight hiss. It crept into the brush less then six feet from Kiley and stopped, sniffing at the air.

Kiley didn't breath. The locals had told him ghost stories.

_That Grey Ghost, yeah, boy, he'll set you up good. A buddy of mine got lost out there, they found him in ninety-four pieces along the trail to the grain silos. Frakking finger was the biggest piece._

The creature seemed to cringe, and suddenly swept away into the woods with a screech that sent Kiley's heart into his throat. He stayed exactly where he was, scared enough to not breath for thirty seconds at a time for fear the creature would return. The thing seemed to have an aura of fear, for as it distanced itself from Kiley, he felt the fear recede. 

Kiley sighed, and began to get up, intending to move in the complete opposite direction from the thing. As he turned, the world went black as his mind shut off his senses to protect his sanity.

_Greying cloths, and a heavy rebreather below two green lenses._

That was the hiss, Kiley thought, as the world went away.

When James Kiley came to, his armor was disheveled, as if the creature had searched him, but hadn't taken anything. His hellgun was totally disassembled next to him, in an orderly pile, and his medical satchel had been rifled through and only two things taken.

An _Attack Run_ comic book, and a pack of chocolate candies. He found the comic, a few feet away neatly set on a rock to keep it from the watery ground, and the empty candy wrapper was folded inside at the halfway mark in the book, as if to mark the page.
---------------------
_Present Day_

Rostock blinked slowly.

"No, really." said Grey.

Kiley held up his hands. He handed her the comic, with the wrapper still inside. 

"I don't believe it. You probably hit the stims too hard or something." said Richards. "Grey Ghost. Ha!"

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

The next day Richards stepped outside the bunker to start a cooking fire and was confronted by a horrific sight.

A single body wearing the colors of the Konaze terrorists was nailed to a tree ten feet from the door, an expression of horror on his face and a knife embedded in his neck. The weapon went all the way through the man's throat and halfway into the tree. Richards licked his lips.

"Woah. You _trashed_ that frakker." said Daniels, stepping out after Richards holding the cooking pot.

"I didn't...I just.." stammered Richards, who stared at the single piece of greying cloth clenched in the man's fist.

"Don't tell me you're believing that crazy medic. That body was probably here last night, Rich. You just didn't see it. Nice little piece of wall art though."

"Best get him down. No point in advertising we're here." said Richards. Flint and Kiley stepped out to help. The four pried the rebel's body off the tree, cringing at the _shluck_ noise as the nails pulled through the man's arms and legs.

They dropped the body in horror. On the man's back, sliced like a clawtip would, was written a single word.

BeLiEVe.


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## lawrence96 (Sep 1, 2008)

they really need to make sound effects for this part of the forum, perhaps you could do a recording with sound effects? might be fun


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

Wow Dirge, that was a whole new level of awesome.


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## waltzmelancholy_07 (Sep 30, 2008)

2nd that last post!....


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks all. A little almost-morning update here, I couldn't sleep at all tonight lol.
--------------------------------------------------------

THE GREY GHOST
"_Just Ghost stories. That's all. Nothing but scare tactics._"
-Reply to signal from Konaze Rebel Patrol 2, contact lost shortly thereafter.
-------------

Flint yawned. The squad moved slowly through the dense brush, Pelenius, Ike, and Thatcher following their movements. 

The forest seemed eerie at night. Birds flitted from tree to tree and bugs rustled in the fallen leaves. A single crescent moon hung in the sky. Kiley seemed more disturbed then all of the others put together, including Richards, who was visibly shaken by the dead rebel they had found that morning.

Grey called the team to a halt, holding up a closed fist. The troops took cover as a rustling grew in the underbrush.

A grey shade, six feet tall with an eerie greenish glow coming from it's eyes, moved across the forest floor. A hissing sound came from a heavy respirator across it's nose and mouth. Not a scrap of flesh was visible on it. It crept over to a tree twenty feet from them a froze. The horrible green eyes swept over them in turn, and the hissing continued at a steady pace. Flint felt the creature's vision settle on him, and suddenly the thing was gone.

"What the frak?" asked Rachel quietly. 

"Told you so." said Kiley. 

Grey's eyes were wide beneath her visor. She knelt silently, and began to move forward.

A hole opened in the ground before her and she toppled into the abyss, yelping in shock.

Zulu ran for the hole, seeing Grey twenty feet below in a pile of loose dirt and rock. She looked around and then met Rostock's stare.

"Careful about that last step, Sergeant."

Rostock tapped a finger to his brow. "I'll remember that, ma'am."

"I... I think there's something down here."

Daniels jumped down, rolling. Rachel and Lorien followed, fanning out.

"Some kinda echo readings down here. Crazy." 

The squad filed down, pulling the debris off the captain. 

A grey shade leapt from the ceiling and pinned Daniels to the ground, raising a wicked, silvery claw.

"Check!" yelled Grey instinctively. The creature stopped dead. Zulu did the same. 

The Grey Ghost stood up to it's full height and stared at Grey with a quizzical look.

"Settle down, Zulu." she said softly. The squad hesitated, and lowered their weapons. Kiley moved toward Daniels, helping him up. The creature held out a hand and grabbed Daniels, pulling his gauntlet off and exposing his palm. The creature inspected it, and shot off a rapid burst of clicks. Seeming satisfied, it returned Daniels' hand and moved back into the cave.

Grey followed, limping slightly on her left side, and the cave opened into a small cavern, twenty feet on either side and thirty high. Glowglobes were bolted to the walls wherever they fit, beside chipped license tags of groundcars. A stack of graphic novels and comics was placed reverently beside a tattered stretch of cloths sewn into a hammock. A recaf tin filled with tools was next to them. Odds and ends were placed in careful stacks, everything from oiled PDF lasguns to bac-stick lighters to lawn ornaments were placed in stacks ten feet high, clearly ordered but conveying a sense of dishevelment all the same. A golden statuette of the Emperor stood in the corner beside a burned-down series of candles and a copy of the _Honorifica Praetoria_.

The creature turned, flashing a series of hand signals Zulu recognized as the standard set of Imperial Guard signs.

_Allies?_

"Can you understand us?" Grey asked.

More hand signs. _Yes._

"We're Imperial Guard. What are you?"

_Heretic_.

"I doubt it. What are you, really?"

The creature hesitated, then replied.

"Zeke." he said in an odd, hissing accent. 

"We're trying to get off-planet. Can you help us?"

Zeke considered the question, and rubbed at a patch of dirt on the walls.

"I can." hissed Zeke. "But first you have to help me."

Pelenius flopped down from the cave, drawing a tired breath before looking at Zeke with horror. Zeke hissed in alarm and drew back some form of shurikan, a wicked combat knife with a serrated tip. Pelenius held up his chubby arms in fright, and Grey stepped between the two.

"I think he's got the right stuff, Cap." said Rostock.

"Scared the stuffing out of me, though." said Kiley.

"I was hungry." explained Zeke. "I hadn't eaten in two days when I knocked you out on the trail."

Kiley nodded. "And what about that other story, the guy in ninety-four parts?"

Zeke laughed, a low hissing noise that trailed off. "The locals have built up quite a legend of "The Grey Ghost", as they call me. They know half of what they think they know, and half of that is wrong."

It's voice took on a dangerous edge. It twirled a shurikan around it's fingers. "But the other half is quite true. That man attacked me with a fragmentation grenade. I threw a knife to pin it to him, and it exploded."

Rostock cocked his head.

"And we're supposed to take your word for it?"

Zeke lowered his stare. "You can't trust me. I understand. But I tell no lie; that man provoked every counterattack I may have launched."

Grey looked at the creature, a knowing gleam in her eyes. 

"What do you need for you to help us get off this rock?"


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

more sheer brilliance Dirge. Can't wait for the next update!


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks OXC!
-------------

ABILITY
"_It's one thing for them to see us. It's another entirely for them to do anything about it._"
-Damian Sable (KIA), commenting on the Mark XXVI Drop Armor the 409th uses.
------

The squad moved slowly. 

A single man stood in a clearing, smoking. A tank bearing the red fist insignia of the Konaze rebels stood to the side. 

"Stay still." hissed Zeke.

The creature seemed to vanish into the air, using the fog and smoke as cover. A stick snapped to the man's right, and he turned.

Just as he did, Zeke materialized on his left, wrapping an arm around the man's throat and breaking his neck with a near-inaudible _snap_ of bone.

A man's voice yelled from inside the tank.

"Oi, Barsel, anything out there?"

Zeke touched the man's throat, and then slit his neck, pulling the man's larynx free in a welter of blood. Grey heard Pelenius retch horribly and turn away. The creature examined the voicebox for a moment, then threw the windpipe away into the woods.

He made a soft clicking noise and his voice rearranged.

"Nah. Just some animal, mate."

Flint's mouth dropped open. Zeke's voice mirrored the Konaze accent perfectly. 

"Alright. Leftenant's gonna be here soon, we better be makin' ready."

"Got it, mate."

He made the clicking noise again and grabbed his throat, like someone who had coughed too much.

Zeke sighed, and silently climbed the side of the tank, looking down the hatch. Zulu watched in amazement.

A scream sounded as the men inside saw Zeke, and he let out a horrific screech, grabbing one of the crew and dragging him out the top hatch. The man was screaming. Zeke tossed the man away, and Richards and Daniels jumped on him, pinning him to the ground. The creature dropped into the tank, and more screams were heard. The distant, intellectual portion of Flint's mind discerned the _snap_ of bones as well as the wet sound of tearing flesh. The tank listed to one side, and the right-hand heavy bolter sponson was torn off it's mounting, Zeke climbing out. It was covered in blood and a series of teeth and bone shrapnel was clinging to it's tattered robes.

"Woah. You frakking _trashed_ those frakkers." said Daniels.

"Not really." Zeke admitted.

"You _did_, man. Scrambled their sorry selves."

The rebel in their midst was beginning to cry.

"Shut up." said Richards. 

"He said his officer was nearing." said Zeke. Grey nodded.

"A.. what the hell did he say?"

"Leftenant."

"What the frak is that?"

"Konaze dialect. It's a lieutenant, ma'am."

Grey nodded. 

"You think we should try and nab him?"

The rebel shook with violence.

"You'll never take our commander. He's the most powerful man this side of the Segmentum Obscurus. You'll never win, Imperial! Give up now!"

He let out a long laugh. Daniels aimed an ill-tempered kick at his stomach.

"What's he driving, an Imperator?" he asked.

"I'll never talk." said the man.

Zeke nodded at this and returned to the tank, pulling something from inside. It set a gory skull down beside the man's face, a single Shurikan throwing knife through the skull's eye socket.

"You'll talk." said Zeke. It knelt down and put a wrapped claw against the man's forehead. A vein throbbed. The man let out a low cry, and began to twitch. He closed his eyes, fighting a battle only he and Zeke could see. After approximately twenty-four seconds, the man gasped and relented. Zeke withdrew.

"Just a groundcar...and a Chimera escort. Twelve men tops." breathed the rebel.

Zeke pulled the Shurikan from the skull and tossed the bloody trophy back into the tank. He stuck the knife back into his belt.

"Good man." said Rachel. She looked to Grey, who nodded.

The sniper drew her sidearm and put a shot through the man's head. Richards and Daniels tossed the body into the tank.

"How are we gonna cover this up?" asked Lorien, looking over the wreck. Rostock was tossing a single Krak grenade up and down in his palm.

"Oh." said the spotter. Rostock leaned into the tank, pulled the pin on the grenade, and placed it in the ammunition locker. The sergeant threw himself behind a tree as the tank detonated in a spectacular blast of ammo and shredded armor. 

Zeke cocked his head.

"What?" asked Grey. The creature held up one finger and placed it's head against a tree, feeling the slight vibrations.

"Engines." said Zeke. 

A groundcar raced into the clearing, plowing a path through the dense underbrush and small paved road. 

The car stopped and a young man got out, running around to open the door for an older man with a filigree of golden thread on his uniform. 

"That's not a lieutenant." said Daniels, indicating his own mud-splattered drop armor. "That's the goddamn president."

Wolff nodded. He looked down the sights of his weapon.

"Got that Chimera coming down the road. ETA three minutes."

Rachel looked up. "He must've sped up to see what happened to the tank."

"His mistake." hissed Grey. She turned to Zeke, taking in the grey, bloodsplattered robes.

"Can you grab him?" she said.

Zeke nodded and vanished into the fog again.

The man's driver was yanked into a drainage pipe under the road with a yelp, and the man turned. A scream echoed from the pipe, and the lieutenant began to back towards the car. A knife whistled out of the pipe and stuck in his knee, making him fall, and suddenly Zeke was on top of the man like a giant bird of prey, it's wrapped talons digging into the leftenant's back.

"Gotcha." hissed Zeke.

He dragged the man back to the brush Zulu hid behind as the Chimera stopped. Men began to fan out.

"Better be going." said Zeke. It pulled the now-unconscious man onto its' shoulders and began to hike off in the direction of the city. Zulu took one last look at the devastation and followed.

-----------

Later that night, Zeke sat near a small cooking fire, staring into the flames behind it's expressionless mask and respirator.

"What are you?" asked Grey, sitting across from it. She had pulled her helmet off and was eating from a can of C-rations. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

Zeke chuckled, a short hissing noise that rose off the audible scale.

"You could say I'm a lot of things. Or you could say I'm nothing. In this region I'm the Grey Ghost. In the far west I'm known as Los Spiritas de Muerte, the Angel of Death. Farther north I'm the Ice Demon, to the south I'm the Burning Death."

Grey smiled. "So what are you, really?"

"I'm you. Or I was." said Zeke. Grey furrowed her brow in confusion.

"I don't know, really. I remember a family. I remember my mother's songs, my father teaching me to read from his soft chair in the corner of a hab. I remember breaking my arm when I was five, I remember recovering in the chirurgery. I remember my first ice cream cone in Freedom Square. I remember being scared of heretics in my closet at night."

"After that?"

"Nothing. I remember waking up one day fifty years in the future with this." Zeke hissed, drawing its' arms to indicate himself.

"I cover myself because of myself." he explained. "I won't give you any more then that."

Grey nodded. "Fair enough."

Zeke swallowed audibly. "So where do you come from, Captain Grey?" it asked. 

"I was born on Valkyria, twenty-seven years ago. I enlisted in the 202nd Drop Battalion at 18, and was transferred to the 409th Drop Regiment following a battle on Myanmar. Sable died on Quietan three years later, and I was next in line for command."

Zeke nodded. "You don't have much to tell, Captain."

Grey shook her head. "It's not all blood and war. I remember Ted Dawson adopting a puppy on Girania X, carrying in his rucksack. I remember Sable singing "The wheels on the Land Raider" when he sewed on his captain's pips. I remember Fish getting shot in the head and living. I remember Rachel and Lorien breaking some... news to Sable and him laughing with them."

Zeke inclined its' head. "A good life."

Grey shrugged. "A good one, sure. How the heck did you get so...powerful?"

The hissing chuckle again. "Captain Grey, it's not the ability, it's the person wielding it that matters. Now I believe is a good time to wake up our new friend. Hand me your can opener, please."


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

That last line is simply LOL. Now, Dirge, how would you like me to make Zulu Squad? I'm building an IG army and I'm just using Vets, Stormtroopers, Valkyries and Tanks. I'll make Zulu one of my Vet Squad, probably the scout ones. I have 1 scout squad, 2 grenadier squads and 1 demolitions squad, all mounted in Valkyries. Give me a list of Zulu's equipment and how Ike's Valkyrie is kitted and I'll try make it as close as possible when making my list.


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## waltzmelancholy_07 (Sep 30, 2008)

So Zeke's the Grey Ghost... I thought it was Captain Grey... Well... You know y... Anyways... Nice work Dirge!:grin:...


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## lawrence96 (Sep 1, 2008)

correct me if i am wrong, but didn't you write a story a few months back where someone was turned into some sort of uber killing creature, that helped some SM's defend their planet from the Inq. who were looking for this creature.

so point is, is this where that creature ended up?


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

No, but a great guess, man. And OXC, I've sent off that PM. Update tonight, if not, definitely tomorrow.


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## Iron Corsair (Nov 5, 2008)

Great Job, Dirge! Its great to see the 409th again. Keep up your awesome work!

I was wondering, would you mind if I wrote a Fan-Fic of the 409th? It would not be nearly as awesome as your stories are, but I try my best.

Also, do the 409th have standard, non Storm-Trooper Guard squads?


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

I wouldn't have a problem with it, but I'd like to keep Zulu to myself. Feel free to use the regiment though. And no, they don't. The 409th ODJJ is a Drop Trooper Regiment made entirely of Stormtroopers and their Valkyrie support. Love to see the interest!

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

THE HUNT
"_The Emperor helps those who aim well_"
-inscription on Lt. Robert Daniels' hellgun
---------

Zeke pulled the captive lieutenant up to his knees, ignoring the spatter of blood against his robes.

"Where is it?" he asked simply. The lieutenant gasped weakly.

"Twenty..twenty klicks north. Next to the road heading to the next settlement."

"How many guarding it?"

"A platoon and two Chimeras."

Zeke twisted the man's wrist, and a _snick_ of breaking bone made the man grunt in pain.

"Two platoons... and a squad of armor.. please, let me go."

Zeke dropped the man in a heap of bloody clothes and hair. He rolled up into a ball to avoid the creature, sobbing weakly.

Grey watched dispassionately from a stump nearby. Zeke raised the man's head by his chin. The lieutenant's face was wet with tears. A shurikan appeared in Zeke's hand.

The creature turned to look at Grey, somehow asking permission.

Wolff perked up from a portable vox-set.

"Captain!" he shouted. Grey turned, and Zeke dropped the knife.

"We got calls coming in. The 452nd Cadian's here, with half the Sector fleet! They've taken the orbital lanes and are coming in hot all over the continent!"

A series of distant _thumps_ echoed as the traitors' artillery began to throb at the air. 

"I've...failed. My cause. My leader." whimpered the lieutenant. 

"I suppose so." said Zeke.

The man grasped at the shurikan knife Zeke had dropped, and stabbed himself in the throat.

Zulu stood up as blood poured down the lieutenant's front, pooling in the fallen leaves and dry earth under him.

"Shit." said Richards.

Zeke seemed remarkably unconcerned. He pulled the knife from the man's throat and cleaned it on his fatigues before sticking the weapon back into his belt.

"Well, that's my offer. You help me retrieve what's mine from the rebels, I will help you get to your Imperial LZ."

Grey shrugged. "Where's the nearest LZ?" she asked Wolff. The young trooper consulted a map.

"Maybe fifty miles south-southwest of the capital, ma'am. Troopship with seven hundred of the Cadians and an Inquisitorial detachment from Sol.

"So maybe sixty miles total? That'll be easier if we can ride."

Pelenius nodded in approval. "Much easier."

Rachel snorted at the adept's words, but he pretended not to hear.

"We can commandeer one of the Konaze vehicles." said Rostock. "If you can get one of the starter cards, I can drive it."

Grey nodded.

"Sounds like a plan."
----------------------

Six hours later the rebel encampment came into view. Sixteen men were on guard, patrolling the perimeter with lasguns and autoguns hung idly. A Chimera was parked in the corner of the camp, engine stuttering. Two more were powered down, their hatches open.

The squad dispersed to the sides of the camp, in four teams. Rachel and Lorien camped under a set of fallen trees to the west, while Richards and Flint sat neatly to the east. Rostock, Kiley, and Wolff had taken up a spot to the south, while Grey, Daniels, Zeke, and Pelenius were to the north. Daniels clapped a hand to the 45mm mortar the OBSAT station had been thoughtfully stocked with. A smoke round, bright yellow and a sharp contrast to the red-painted Konaze rebels, hit the ground in the center of the camp. The rebels looked around in confusion, and a mortar round struck the tent in the center of the camp with a horrific thunderclap. Bones and shredded gore flew into the air.

Richards rose to a crouch and fired the rocket launcher, the missile hitting the idling Chimera dead between the turret and the body. The tank exploded, killing the unfortunates in the camp. The rebels started to scatter in panic, more being felled by accurate Hellgun fire and sniper rounds. An officer appeared to rally his men for a moment, and his head exploded as Rachel realized the danger. The rebels continued to flee as another mortar round struck in their midst, killing a dozen.

As the last few cleared the perimeter, running headlong without anything but their uniforms into the woods, Zulu stomped down the hills into the base, ignoring the torched soldiers and shrapnel. Zeke flowed past them, entering the tent Daniels had blown up. It tugged a dented metal briefcase from the wreckage, the cover scorched and chipped. 

Zeke placed the case reverently on a Chimera's track guards and opened it. Zulu clustered around it, eager to see what had so interested the Grey Ghost.

A bundle of papers marked with the Adeptus Biologis were tossed aside, as was a laspistol and a denial charge that beeped menacingly as Richards disarmed it on the ground. Zeke pulled three things from the case, holding them as a mother holds a child.

The first was a small rune on a chain, stone with a metallic symbol Grey didn't recognize set into it. The second was a small, leather-bound book, the words _Omnia Amo_ written in chipped silver lettering. 

The last was a pic-capture of a young woman and man standing in front of a massive statue of a Space Marine, their arms around each other and smiling as the wind made their hair wave. Zeke trembled at the photo, and quickly tucked it into it's assortment of pouches. The book went similarly. The rune on a chain Zeke looped around it's belt and rubbed the icon lovingly before turning to Zulu.

"The rebels knew these things would draw me into the open, and alone I would have been less then a match for this force. Thank you."

Grey nodded and motioned Zulu into a waiting Chimera as Zeke stood in the mud, staring.

"Are you coming?" asked Rostock. Zeke appeared to think.

"No." it said finally. "I need time to think about what I've gained here, and meditate on the violence I've been forced to use. I'll be there when you need me, not a moment sooner."

The hatch closed, and the Chimera roared to a start, as Zeke turned and took the photo out, rubbing a talon over the surface. A single tear brushed the inside of it's mask.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

More great work Dirge.

In terms of making your 409th, it is impossible to make the entire army stormtroopers, so I'm making all the troops veterans in Carapace armour. Ill make one of these vet squads Zulu so the equipment can be as close as possible to the story. Alternatively, I could make Zulu 1 of 2 storm trooper squads, but the equipment wont be as accurate. It's up to you. Either a vet squad or an actual storm trooper squad. Also, Ike's Valkyrie is lascannon and missile pods yes? What about HB sponsons?


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## Iron Corsair (Nov 5, 2008)

> I wouldn't have a problem with it, but I'd like to keep Zulu to myself.


 No Problem! Zulu is yours, and will stay yours!

Hurray! Yogurt Squad, here I come!

Excellent job on this chapter, Dirge! Zeke is a really nice character, especially at the end of this chapter, where he finds some stuff from his past. Good job! :clapping:

Also, what color is the 409th's armor? Do they paint it whatever they want?


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Ordo Xeno Commander said:


> More great work Dirge.
> 
> It's up to you. Either a vet squad or an actual storm trooper squad. Also, Ike's Valkyrie is lascannon and missile pods yes? What about HB sponsons?


Vets are fine. The Valkyrie they use is orbital insertion, so it actually doesn't have the side drop doors, just the rear ramp, so no HB sponsons. But once again, don't let me get in the way of a good model, man. Build them however you want.


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## deathbringer (Feb 19, 2009)

Dirge you are honestly a genius
that was brilliant
just read the whole lot in one go
is their anymore 409th stuff i could get a link too


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

If you read the first one, 409, then no. If not it's linked at the very top of this thread.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

Ok, I think I'll throw the HB sponsons on, just say these Valkyries were dropped from low orbit and rebuilt to withstand the heat and pressure. And first vet squad it is! I have finished my test model for the colours, but havent had time to get it home or gat a camera, but I'll do that ASAP.


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Alright. I look forward to seeing the minis, man!
----------------------------------------------

INCURSION
"_Is that really necessary?_"
-Voted "Most hated words" by the 409th Regiment's B company six years in a row.
-------------

The Chimera bounced and rumbled. The capital sped past as the vehicle traveled towards the initial Imperial landing zone. The vox crackled.

"To any Imperial units in range, Drop 3 is overrun, repeat do NOT report to Drop 3, it's gone."

Rostock looked over his shoulder. 

"Really?" asked Grey. She thumbed the vox.

"Repeat instruction and relay coordinates." she said.

"Wha? Who is this?" asked the op.

"This is Zulu Squad, Bravo 409th. Where is Drop 3?"

"Um, about five miles southeast of your current position, Zulu."

"Damn it." said Grey, holding the vox-set away from her.

"Repeat that. Didn't copy."

"Interference on the mikes."

The vox switched off. Rostock swung the Chimera around, and the engine died with a crash of clutch plates and gears.

"Everyone out." said Grey. The door swung open and Zulu bailed out of the transport. 

A shout came up the road.

"I think they might know we're here." said Rostock. The squad broke into two groups and took cover on the sides of path, behind trees and brush.

A man came running up the road, shouting. Moments later a whole platoon of rebels stormed after him, shooting. The man caught a dozen rounds in the back and toppled over. The rebels clustered around him, searching him.

"Rostock, you have one of those FEF mines on you?"

The sergeant nodded and took a mine about the size of a dinner plate from his pack. The Fyceline Explosive (Fletchette) mines were about as anti-infantry as they got, throwing razor sharp bits of ceramite into the air. 

The mine rolled down the embankment and up onto the road. The rebels looked at each other, and the mine made a small _bleep_.

The road exploded in a thunderclap of energy, killing the rebels instantly and blasting a crater a foot deep in the pavement.

"FEFs won't do that." said Grey in confusion. A familiar screech echoed through the air.

"I think we've got our ride. Angel's coming in fast, maybe four hundred off the deck." said Rachel.

The Valkyrie swept over the trees and settled on the road, the left side rocket pod smoking.

"Nice shooting." said Daniels. The squad and Pelenius clambered aboard, and Ike lifted off, flying west. Within fifteen minutes Army Group West's staging area was visible. Cadian pattern bunkers and prefab buildings smashed into the group around six vast troopships, each capable of carrying three companies and their equipment.

Ike set the ship down on a slab of rockcrete set into the mud on the far side of the camp, and Zulu walked down the ramp to be greeted by a colonel in a silver breatplate and his black-coated Regimental Commissar.

"Welcome to Camp Greenwood." said the colonel. Grey shook his hand, wondering why he stared first at her chest, then the blank visage of her helmet.

"Pleasure." supplied Rostock. 

"I am Colonel Grant Brooks, this is Commissar Imran Zhukov."

Zhukov gave them a cold nod. 

"Captain Erica Grey, this is Lieutenant Robert Daniels."

Daniels held a mud and blood-splattered glove out to Zhukov, who looked at him with something approaching contempt. Daniels flicked his hand, spattering the commissar before dropping it back to his side.

"Oops." he said. "I got some real soldier on your uniform, sir. Here, let me get it."

He pulled a similarly filthy camo net from his pack and advanced on Zhukov. Brooks stepped between the two.

"That's enough." he said. Grey pulled Daniels back.

"My troops are tired, colonel, and we've got a VIP to get into orbit. Do you have any bunks available?"

"We've got bunks and food for the stragglers that come in over there." he said, pointing. "We'll get your VIP into orbit for you on the next supply run."

Rostock clapped Grey on the shoulder as Pelenius was led into the base's command post. 

"Good work, boss."
----------------------------

Later that night, Kiley sat around a small cookfire telling stories while the squad blew off steam. Richards and Flint threw knives at a sack-cloth bayonet dummy, while Grey and Daniels planned their new operation orders. Rachel and Lorien were nowhere to be found, probably by design, and Rostock and Wolff sat with Kiley, sharing their own stories.

"And he just looked at me and was like "what do you have for really bad wounds?", and I said "I've got chocolate." said Kiley. Wolff chuckled.

Rostock smiled and adjusted the MRE on a spit over the fire. Grox steaks, it said. More like meat-plated discus. 

A strobe effect lit up the night sky as the capital city was bombarded from orbit. Wolff yawned widely and rubbed his eyes.

"I'm going to bed." he said simply, and walked off in the direction of the small tent Zulu had comandeered. 

He hit the tent's door and rebounded off.

"What do you want?" said Rachel's voice.

"Uh, bed?" asked Wolff. 

"Other tent." said Lorien's voice. Wolff shrugged and walked over to the second tent in the row. 

"He doesn't know?" asked Kiley.

"Probably for the best." said Rostock. "The kid's a little too much of a stickler right now."

Flint sat down with Richards. "You told me the day after I joined." he said.

Rostock smiled. "For the record, Richards told you."

"Yeah, cause he had the hots for Rachel and I didn't want him to get killed on his second day. Gotta look out for the fish." said Richards with a laugh.

"I didn't _have the hots_ for her, I just liked her because she was the only one who wasn't a pompous asshole to me." retorted Flint.

"Hey now." said Rostock, holding a hand to his heart in mock pain. "I was nice. _I_ kept that armorer from stiffing you. Are you saying... you _don't like me?_"

The four laughed in unison. 

Grey walked over, holding a flimsi printed map of the area. "Got our new trade, Zulu."

"We get to make something go away, captain?" asked Richards. 

"You betcha. Main defense bunker on the western approach, and we're gonna let the Guard in."

Daniels shook his head, sitting opposite Grey. "Silly Guard. Always needing us to shovel them out of the shit."

"You don't like the good colonel and his witch hunter?" asked Grey with a smile.

"Nah. Colonel seems alright, but Commissars piss me off."

Richards made a mock concerned face. "We saw that, after you all but wiped your ass on his jacket today. Is it because you got beat up by the Commissar cadets back in the schola?"

"I beat your mom back at the schola." said Daniels with a mocking, high-pitched voice.

"That's a new one. I bet the ancients used that, man. Need to get some new material." laughed Rostock. 

The squad started as a single metal shard flew into their midst, sticking in a log next to Grey's head by a calculated handspan. She pulled the knife from the wood and stared at the note attached.

"We're gonna get some help, apparently." she said.

The note read _I've got your back. Meet me under the Saint._


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## Iron Corsair (Nov 5, 2008)

Awesome as always, Dirge. Keep up the excellent work!

What are the colors of the 409th? Do they just use whatever colors they want?


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Grey marble camo. Like urban patterns, but darker. They also customize their own armor, Rachel has red splatterpaint, and Flint's got tribal symbols.


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## waltzmelancholy_07 (Sep 30, 2008)

Awesome Dirge... Simply Awesome:grin::victory:...


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

Well I know how I'm painting my sniper for your squad now haha. And I'll throw some tribal stuff onto one of them too.

Yet again Dirge, more brilliant work. I've done codex cloth, fortress armour (both black washed and extreme highlighted, but they look every similar now) and white rock/black shadow camouflage and ash-waste basing. I'll be doing the Valkyries blacked out, with only lenses and details picked out and red internal lighting as to represent a stealth insertion.


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## Iron Corsair (Nov 5, 2008)

Alright, thanks Dirge! I can begin my writing today, then!


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Dang, over 425 views. Thanks to everybody!
-------------------------------------------

REVENGE
"_I don't go hunting. Hunting implies the possibility of failure. I go killing, sir._"
-Rachel Jackson's response to Damian Sable on the topic of her being a "hunter".
--------

"That's gotta be the Saint." said Grey.

"Looks like it's seen better days."

Rostock checked a bombardment map. "It got hit yesterday by a misfired .105 round. We're lucky it's still there at all."

A sixty-four foot tall statue of Saint Julian the White was smashed on it's side, one arm still held out in welcome. It stood two miles to the north of the main highway to the capital. Zulu crept through the ruins, using the shattered statue for cover. A clutch of chains and dessicated remains greeted them as they turned a corner.

"Oh, that's perfect." said Richards. "Anyone up for lunch now?"

"They hung traitors from the saint's arms, I think." said Kiley. 

"Nice." said Rachel. She stepped over the first body and started. Zeke drifted out of the shadows and nodded to her, then to the rest of the squad.

"Hello again." it said. Grey nodded a greeting and dropped the muzzle of her Hellgun.

"What've you been up to?" she asked. 

"Meditation and cleansing rites, mostly, but I did find a back way into the city." replied Zeke.

"A back way?"

"Yes. It was guarded by two men with a heavy bolter. They are dead. The entrance is about a mile north of here, leads into the old sewer network."

Richards rolled his eyes. "Great. Just great. A _sewer_?"

Rachel took on a bemused look. "Getting wet beats getting shot."

"It's not _wet_, it's _shi_-"

"Alrighty then. Can we get on with it?" asked Rostock. Zeke nodded slowly and began to walk from the statue's resting place, Zulu following.

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

Contrary to Richards' fears, the old sewer was mostly drained. The brickwork was glazed clay, rising in a low arch above them, forcing them all to stoop to walk along it. Zeke was in front, whatever systems his goggles contained allowing him to see, while Zulu cursed and felt through the tunnel, using their night-vision optics.

Zeke stopped in front of them, and Flint bumped it in the back, as sudden as it had stopped. Zeke felt heavy for something of it's size. The creature cocked it's head, listening, and felt around under the murky water and pulled the sluice gates up, letting water rush around Zulu's ankles as the partially-drained tunnel they stood in rushed to fill the dry tunnel beyond. Zeke closed the gate as the last of them walked through, and the water stopped. 

"This is as far as I scouted." said Zeke. It indicated a pair of dead men manning a serviceable heavy bolter. 

"That might be useful." said Daniels. He tried to pick the weapon up, but gasped and lowered it.

"No way we're carrying that with us." said Grey.

Zeke placed a wrapped claw on the tripod and wrenched the weapon free, the fat barrel looming menacingly in the dark. 

"Holy shit." said Richards.

"I can carry it, if you want to bring it." said Zeke, no indication of strain in it's voice.

"Cool. Can you still move?" asked Grey.

"Yes."

She nodded and motioned Zeke to continue. The creature led them on, until it stopped at a red-painted ladder set into the wall. BNKR-24(CPW) was written in stenciled red lettering next to the ladder. 

"This is the service entrance. It opens six feet from the main doors."

"Inside or outside the doors?"

"I don't know, I can only sense the vibrations from the doors six feet from here."

Rachel placed a boot on the ladder. "Fifty fifty's better then a lot of the odds we've had over the years, captain."

"Move. I'll go first." said Zeke. It planted a claw on the ladder and launched itself up, smashing aside the grate.

Rostock sniffed. "Is anyone bothered by the fact the most take-charge guy on our team is... what the hell is he?"

"She?" replied Richards.

"Excuse me?"

"Dude, I can tell."

"His name's Zeke, Rich."

Richards shrugged, the motion exaggerated by his drop armor. "Whatever, man."

The chatter of the heavy bolter drew Zulu's attention and they stormed up the ladder, taking up positions. A dozen rebels sat behind a concrete barrier, while the door sat six feet behind them, sealing them in the bunker.

Kiley pulled a massive weapon off his back, slinging his Hellgun.

"I like to keep this around." he said. He gestured, showing Wolff the huge eight-gauge combat shotgun he carried. A barrel sat beneath the weapon's slide, attached with a bar of metal.

"Is that a shotgun, with an underslung shotgun?" asked Richards, sitting to his left.

"Why yes, it is." said Kiley, seemingly undisturbed by the bullets whizzing overhead.

"That's awesome." said Richards. "I want one."

Zeke stood with a talon on the barricade, firing over the rebels' heads. One stuck his head up to shoot and caught a bolt round in the face, blowing his head into spinning fragments. His allies broke at the horrible death, and Rachel and Lorien stood up, blasting away at their backs.

The squad, with Zeke in tow, entered the bunker, taking in the vast array of consoles and machines before them.

"Which one makes the perimeter guns work?" asked Richards. 

"I'd imagine the one labeled Perimeter Defense does, Rich." said Daniels. He leaned over and flipped a switch. The sounds of artillery fire outside faded. 

"Got the gate switch here." said Lorien. She flipped a second switch and a rumble filled the bunker as the gates swung open. The spotter unloaded a hellgun clip into the console, and the gates jammed fully opened.

"There we go." she said. 

Zeke nodded, and sat next to the Heavy Bolter, it's taloned hands brushing the ground. It looked up in shock.

"I...get down!" it yelled. Zulu hit the deck, and the world went black over the roar of detonating munitions.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

awesome, a shotgun with an underslung shotgun... I do want one haha.


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## waltzmelancholy_07 (Sep 30, 2008)

2nd that last post again!:victory::biggrin:...


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Thanks all! And make sure to check out OXC's 409th List, Here. 
-----------------

13 NIGHTS
"_They know half of what they think they know, and half of that is bullshit._"
-Sgt. Holden Rostock, commenting on the accuracy of Imperial Intelligence.
----------

"Cap-"

"-Grey, you still with us?"

"I think she's dead."

"She's not dead, idiot. Help me get her up."

Flint and Daniels looped their arms around Grey's own arms, and dragged her up. She breathed a sigh of relief and brushed some dust from her shoulders.

"Zulu, sound off!" she said. Grey waited while each member of Zulu shouted their names.

Zeke's fist punched through a sheet of plywood, and the Grey Ghost dragged itself from a ragged hole in the material. It's cloak was shredded, exposing blood-streaked, dirty flesh beneath. It's mask was dented, and the respirator made a funny hissing noise when Zeke breathed. One of the goggle lenses on it's mask was cracked. 

"Still here." Zeke said. "Close one, though."

Daniels coughed up a lungful of dust. "What the frak was that?"

Zeke stooped down, brushing a claw along the pulverized dirt.

"A mole-mine, I believe." it said.

"Dammit. Doesn't anyone listen? We frakking told them, six feet of plascrete for mole-mines."

Zeke shrugged. "Built by the lowest bidder."

Rostock helped Wolff to his feet, the young trooper tying a red-splotched rag over his face.

"What's wrong with your face, private?" asked Daniels.

"Got winged by a chunk of rebar, Lieutenant. What's wrong with yours?" snarled Wolff.

Grey snorted. Daniels looked at the trooper with something approaching respect. 

"I think you'll fit in just fine, Wolff." said Richards. He led Wolff away, his Hellgun idly over one shoulder.

Rostock had a pressure bandage taped over his shoulder, similarly red-stained. Rachel had a strip of Lorien's fatigue jacket wound around her where a piece of shrapnel had cut across her upper right arm.

Kiley yawned widely, and shook a few chocolate candies into Daniels' palm. 

Grey blinked slowly, clearing the dust from her eyes, and keyed the comms.

"Fleetcom, this is Zulu, copy?"

[Zulu, this is FLEETCOM, we read you, over.]

Grey breathed a sigh of relief. At least they could call for evac.

"We're deep in the shit here, Fleet. Can we get a lift?"

[Uh, that's a negative, Zulu. Rebels have an AA emplacement two klicks to the west of you, until that's taken out we can _not_ risk sending in an evac, over.]

"Fleetcom, requesting gunnery support."

[Roger that Zulu, transferring you to SHIPCOM on the _Imperical_, standby.]

Grey tapped her foot.

[Zulu, this is _Imperical_. What can we do you for?]

"Request gunnery support, _Imperical_."

[Roger that, Zulu, we got some fireworks up the spout already. Coordinates?]

Grey flipped open a map onto her HUD, thinking of the most logical spots to put an AA gun. She selected two points and uploaded them to the _Imperical_'s targeting ledger.

"_Imperical_, on receipt of code India target this location, on receipt of code Sparrow target _this_ location."

[Roger that, Zulu, aligning the lances now. First one's on the house, call it in when you're ready. SHIPCOM out.]

Rostock cocked his hellgun. "You making this up as you go along, captain?"

"Kind of." admitted Grey. "Sable'd know what to do."

Rostock smiled broadly. "Remember that time Sable got drunk on Aeluria and tried to throw a grenade at the moon, Captain? That's what I remember him as."

Grey laughed. 

Zeke winced as it's side brushed the stock of Grey's hellgun as she lifted it up. 

"You OK? Maybe Kiley should take a look at you."

Zeke shook it's head silently, making a slow rasping noise as it's respirator labored in its' damaged condition. Grey wasn't convinced. She reached for Zeke's arm, and tapped a long cut in the flesh. She saw a black pattern etched on the skin beneath the ragged grey clothes, but Zeke snatched the limb back before she could get a good look.

"I'm fine." said Zeke, with a tone that belayed any argument.

Grey shrugged, and Zulu ran across the street toward the sound of AA fire. 

---------

Zeke flipped through the well-thumbed pages of the book it had taken from the rebel camp.

"_First Rain, y.o.l. 999.M41, It's often hard to consider what life's given me, but I find it only a minor flaw in a greater work. I like to scheme, it's a trait Kevin hates in me. You know how it is, plots within plots? I love it. All the cloak-and-dagger. Suspense, and such. Though it's probably silly to think like that. I'm starting to sound like an Inquisitor! Well, there's one thing no one can take from me, Zeke, if you ever read this. No one can take you from me._"

Zeke closed it's eyes and hugged the book to it's chest. 

"Was that a promise?" said Zeke under it's breath. 

Daniels looked up. "You say something?" he asked. 

"No."

Daniels narrowed his eyes, challenging Zeke, but gave up once he realized the expressionless respirator-mask made poor odds to staring Zeke down.

The AA battery fired at the air, the rebels desperately trying and failing to hit the plummeting fleets of Imperial dropships and transports. Over a million Guardsmen were already planetside, along with a company of Ultramarines Space Marines.

"_Imperical_, you have those coordinates still?"

[Uh, yeah, Zulu. You want those shots now?]

"Yessir. Codeword Sparrow, fire for effect."

[Copy that Zulu, hold onto your hats. _Imperical_ out.]

"Kiss your ass goodbye, frakker." said Daniels, staring over the low wall Zulu hunkered behind at the AA gunner.

A low hum built in the air. Crackles of energy tugged at the gun's mounting. The gunner stared in shock as he and his weapon were jerked into the air, aloft on the cloud of magnetized air.

A pure white, ravenous blast of energy smashed into the square, vaporizing the gun instantly. A crater ten feet deep and twelve across was melted through the rock. Rebels staggered away from the carnage, burned and missing limbs. 

"Can we get that evac now, Fleet?" asked Grey.

[Zulu, Valkyrie Two-Seven is diverting to LZ Green Nine, over. Get there in ten minutes.]

"Copy that, Fleet. Zulu out."

Richards began to run down the sidewalk toward the LZ, Zeke on his heels.

"How are you going to fight the rebels without support?" asked Zeke. 

"Well, this one time we held off a group of cultists for thirteen nights with just a blowtorch and a nailgun." replied Richards.

"And we had to share the nailgun." said Rachel.


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## Iron Corsair (Nov 5, 2008)

Excellent part, Dirge! I love the ending lines. Weren't those lines in 409th?


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Yeah, actually looking back there's a lot of things people will see if they read 409 before this. I use a lot of references in my work, sometimes unintentionally <.<-->.>


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

haha, thanks for the reference Dirge.
Brilliant last few lines again haha.


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

LAST OUT
"_It is impossible to measure the cost of an outbreak of Virus 7. A single spore can destroy a species, but we have been unable to pinpoint any vector at all. Therefore, it can be assumed Virus 7 is a physical taint rather then a "virus", despite it's name._"
-Adeptus Biologis records, recovered by Inquisitor Pontius Estelle, en route to Jorian IV.

"_When we will be allowed to see the light of our world? When will you accept that we are different, but the same?_"
-Recorded on Deep Subterranean Microphone (DSM) 12, six months before the Jorian Conflict. Source unknown.
---------------

"LZ is too hot, Zulu, repeat LZ is too hot, we've got triple-A coming up in packs."

"Can you divert?"

"Negative, Zulu, we're at bingo fuel already. I'm sorry, Erica."

Grey turned off the radio. 

Zulu picked across the ruins of a chirurgery, ignoring the burned-out corpses that lay amongst the ruins. Wolff had picked up the unsentimental way the 409th handled death quickly. It was easier to compartmentalize death then it was to accept it. A torched Konaze terrorist was a crispy critter. A dead Guardsman was a Mr. Fung. 

"Just a crunchy munchie." said Kiley as he stepped over the terrorist's body.

Zeke lagged behind, closing the eyes of the dead when it could. 

"Disgraceful." it said, shaking it's head.

"What's that?" asked Richards. 

"The death." Zeke gestured, indicating the smashed chirurgery. "The pointless waste."

"Zeke, are you in danger of becoming a good man?"

Zeke looked up. "I won't tell you everything, but I was a good person, once."

It flexed it's claws faintly, the cloth wrappings around the talons making a slight rasp.

"Then I found out people aren't nice."

Grey stooped low to avoid a plasteel beam that had fallen diagonally to the floor. 

The city was burning, much of it was shattered and torched by the Naval bombardments. 

"What now, boss?" asked Rostock. Grey sat down on a pillar, pulling off her helmet and tossing it away.

"I don't know." she said. She wiped her forehead. 

"I just don't know."

The squad sat in silence, listening to the distant _thump_ of Imperial artillery as it pummeled the city.

"The Undercity." said Zeke suddenly.

"Orbital." said Richards. "See, I can do it too. Prison Camp."

"No, I mean the undercity. We can use it to get out of the city."

"How deep is it?"

"Over eighty feet in some areas. Even a Medusa shell won't penetrate the midlevel layers."

Grey thought for a moment.

"You can lead us through?"

Zeke stopped dead. "I can... but there are some things you must never tell another about in the Undercity, and I will expect compliance."

Daniels leaned back. "If you get us out before the Navy starts shooting again, I'll be quiet."

"All of us will." said Grey. "What is in the Undercity?"

Zeke walked across the street and pried a manhole cover open, tossing it aside.

"We are." it said.
-----------------------------
_Thirty minutes later_

It was wet, dripping water onto Zulu's shoulders and Zeke's cloak. The distant thuds and bangs of artillery had given way to the screech of lance batteries. 

"Where are we going?" asked Kiley.

"Through Noctis." said Zeke, as if the squad knew what it was.

A faint glow appeared ahead, blue in color and throwing eerie shadows across the cramped tunnel. 

A clicking noise echoed down the tunnel, seeming to come from every direction at once. Zulu raised their weapons. The clicking intensified.

"Lower your arms." said Zeke. Grey motioned and the squad's weapons came down.

Zeke made the raspy clicking noise back at the speaker. 

A rumble ran through the ground, and a doorway to Zulu's left suddenly appeared in the wall of the tunnel. A cloaked figure pointed a riot gun at them. 

Zeke placed a hand on the weapon, and forced it down. The figure nodded and let them pass.

"Alright. Answers." said Zeke as the door closed. A second glow appeared, this one healthy white in color. A clamor of voices along with the odd clicking rose in volume.

"This is Noctis." said Zeke. A large town was built among a vast underground reservoir, shanties built a half-dozen on top of each other and connected by wooden footbridges. Lamps and glow-globes were hung on strings and people bustled about in the thin streets between the buildings. 

Richards hit the ground hard as the squad fell a dozen feet to the ground level of Noctis. Kiley rolled him over and peeled back his fatigues, exposing the wound he had received destroying the tank in the capital, many days before. The wound was red and throbbing, a yellowing bruise growing on it's edges.

"Shit." said Kiley. "It's infected. I don't have any medspray left. Do you have a healer here?" 

Zeke thought for a moment, then nodded.

"Father Mexantius should be able to help. This way."

Zeke led them through the shanties, ignoring the confused and sometimes hostile stares directed at Zulu. A man spit on Daniels' boot as they walked by.

"Heretic." snarled Daniels.

"Slave." replied the man.

They stopped in front of a two-story wooden shack with a golden statue of the Emperor overlapped by a medicae symbol. 

An elderly man stood in greying robes before an altar to the Emperor, praying quietly. Zeke cleared it's throat and the man turned.

"Ah, the Grey Ghost himself." said the man. "Though I do use "himself" in the context of the rumors. You never tell me anything."

"And I don't intend to." said Zeke, apparently friends with the man.

"What is it that you want, visiting my abode? Missing limbs, or maybe a deflated lung? Semi-decapitation? Gangrene?"

"Infection." said Kiley.

"And who are you all?" asked the man.

Grey stepped forward. "Zulu Squad, 409th Imperial Orbital Drop Jet, B Company."

"Well, that was a lot of words for "Imperials", young lady." said the man. "I am Mexantius, healer of wounds and preacher of the Ecclesiarchy. 

"That was a lot of words for "medicae"." said Daniels.

"Ah, touche." said Maxentius.

He lay Richards on a table encrusted with gargoyles and auto-connectors and took a look at the shoulder.

"Ah, _Bacillus anthracis_, we meet again." he cackled, screwing a magnocular into one eye. He leaned over and took a small bottle from a shelf, spraying it onto the wound. Richards gritted his teeth. 

"Your friend here has a bacterial infection. I'll give you this." said Maxentius. He handed Richards a bottle of the spray. 

"Twice each day for two weeks."

Zeke nodded and shook Maxentius' hand.

"Are we even?" asked Maxentius.

"Not in the slightest, old man." said Zeke. "You still owe me six favors, by my count."

"Ha. Alright, keep your secrets. Now begone! I've much to do and less then a lot of time to do it."

Zulu left the chirurgery with Zeke in tow.

"What is this place?" asked Grey. Zeke shrugged.

"It's a settlement of all the malcontents, nonconformists, and renegades in the capital. A lot of them don't care, but a few are violently anti-Imperial, or pro-Imperial in some cases. It was here when I first started to explore Jorian."

Flint handed a thin child a can of peaches in heavy syrup.

"This place kind of sucks." he said.

"Don't let it fool you, Noctis does quite well for itself. Twenty years ago it was starving, but then Catachan snorkelfish got into the reservoir. That's why it closed down. Frakking things are twenty feet long, weigh maybe a ton. Noctis eats like kings."

A woman threw herself at the squad, grabbing Wolff by the arm.

"Finally! The Guard's come to cleanse this nest of malcontents! Start with that _thing_!" she wailed, pointing at Zeke with an accusing look.

Wolff shook the woman off.

"You don't seem to have many friends." said Grey. Zeke shrugged and continued on.

"Friends are overrated. I think Mexantius is about as close as I come. When I first found this place I had a broken arm and a deflated lung from a nasty dispute with the Arbites. He fixed me up just to get a look at what the hell I am."

Grey nodded. "You ever come back here?"

"Of course. I get a lot of my food from Noctis, and some other unessentials, reading materials, glowglobes, whetstones, things like that. I trade scrap and whatever I pick up from scavengers out in the forests."

A second tunnel loomed ahead of the squad. Zeke gestured them inside. 

"The next exit is two miles down this shaft." said Zeke. "It opens up just outside the city walls."

Daniels looked at Grey. "Good enough for me."

"Last out, right?" said Wolff.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

awesome, great filler chapter loaded with little extra bits of info. Loving it.


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Well, I have an honest confession to make; I've merged the last three chapters, to finish this up quicker. Now before you start throwing full bottles of Orangina at the computer, Here's my cop-out. My next fiction I'm INCREDIBLY excited about, and care enough to post a few tantalizing little hints in my blog. First Contact will get you started nice, and THIS is a preliminary of the two main characters. For those of you who are REALLY oldies, you might remember the Kytharin. For those who aren't, I have managed to scrounge up this incredibly long blog post HERE. The oldies might want to read it too, I've added quite a bit since _Only in Death_.

Cheers! and I'll be finishing this tomorrow. My next one's going to be VERY long, so you might want to settle in.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

Is it a continuation of the 409th or a different story?


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## zboy234 (Dec 29, 2007)

so you mean your bringing the lizard people- like aliens back? hell yeah those things fight like astartes :biggrin:


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Ordo Xeno Commander said:


> Is it a continuation of the 409th or a different story?


It will be a different story, and this one is LONG.



zboy234 said:


> so you mean your bringing the lizard people- like aliens back? hell yeah those things fight like astartes :biggrin:


I'm very excited about bringing them back after so long, I've got some great ideas.


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## Ordo Xeno Commander (Jan 17, 2007)

ohh right, awesome. I like!!


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

Nice. This won't impact the length of this story at all, I'm just going to be posting 3 chapters in one, so I can start up the next one tomorrow. This is an oddity for me, I know the plot, but not the title.

Hmm..


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## Dirge Eterna (Apr 30, 2007)

NO WAY HOME?
"_It's a common fact. You _will_ be stranded somewhere. Get over it and you'll be better prepared for the fact._"
-409th saying
------------------

Zeke stepped back as Zulu stormed out of the drainage channel. A spire of rock and stained glass crashed down just behind the wall and sent a boneshaking roar through the air.

"What do we do?" asked Wolff. "_What do we do?_"

Daniels quieted him with a look as they ran from the city, listening to the horrific din of falling masonry and metalwork. 

They stopped two hundred meters into the forest, watching the massive beams of lance batteries pummel the city into rubble.

"I wonder what happened to the Guard?" asked Rachel. "Weren't they landing everything they had?"

Grey smiled. "It was just Brooks and his regiment to retake the capital."

"What about that communique we got? Ten thousand men and machines?"

"I don't know. They never showed up."

Zeke looked up. "Your allies?"

Flint nodded. Zeke sighed.

"They were pinned down and killed as they landed south of the capital, just after I left you."

Rostock sighed and ran a gloved hand through his hair.

"Shit."

Lorien held a hand to her helmet. "Sarge, Brooks got caught in that barrage, his regiment's falling back in rags."

Daniels breathed out. "Well, you can't win them all."

Zeke led them through the brush, to his old hideout beneath the treeline. Zulu filed down, and the Grey Ghost flopped into the hammock. 

"Well," said Zeke. "What now?"

The squad took off their helmets, sitting or laying around the cave floor. 

"I don't know." said Grey. "Remember that old saying Rostock?"

Rostock smiled. "You're gonna get left behind some time?"

"Yeah. What was the advice?"

"Shut up and deal, if I remember correctly ma'am."

Grey clicked her tongue, an old habit of Sable's.

"Well, I guess we deal then. OBSAT's still got a preservator, right?"

"Yeah, good for a few months, water for maybe a year. Armory too."

Daniels sat up, suddenly interested.

"That sounds like a plan."

Zeke made an odd hissing noise that must have been a yawn.

"I'll go with you, if you don't mind, but I may be in-and-out sometimes."

---------------
_Two months later_

Rachel looked out the firing slit in OBSAT 09's door, taking in the six salvaged Tarantula sentry turrets and the clear-cut killzone around the bunker. The rebels hadn't attacked in two weeks thanks to fear of the sentry guns and Zeke's booby traps.

Rostock sat in a swivel chair, eating pears in heavy syrup from a can. 

"Anything?" asked the sergeant. Rachel shook her head.

"Well, it's to be expected." he said, and returned to his meal.

Flint walked up the stairs from the living quarters, his armor bearing the scratches and dings of two months of campaign.

"What's new today?" he asked. Wolff was bouncing a ball of flimsi off the wall, catching it.

"Nothing." said Wolff. "We got a nice mellow war today. Blue skies, man."

Rostock's eyes narrowed. "Blue. What the hell happened to the Marines? No way in hell they'd get pinned at some rebel attack."

Grey stepped out of the modar room, smiling.

"Hey guys, guess what?"

She flipped a switch on the panel, and a blare of voices suddenly issued from the vox.

[Echo five-one, this is Novamarines strike cruiser _Shield of Faith_, stand by.]

[Closing on LZ two, commander.]

[Have taken east market district, popping smoke for FOF ID.]

Daniels smirked. "Tide's turned, then?"

Grey flipped the switch off. "Yep. Marines been fighting a guerrilla war since the drop sites, the cruiser showed up with reinforcements ten hours ago. The capital's falling and the rebels are retreating into the forests."

The smile on Rostock's face vanished.

"Towards us?"

Grey suddenly looked startled. 

The squad grabbed their weapons and rushed to the firing slits just as the rattle of Tarantula fire and the screams of the booby-trapped men began to filter through the trees.

"Last out, huh Captain?" asked Rachel. Grey smiled under her helmet. Sable's smile.

"You know it." she said. The rebels broke the treeline, and the killing began.

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

THANKS! To everyone that read this, and ESPECIALLY to those who posted feedback!

Check out Redemption, my next fic, if you liked this. Be sure to read the foreward before diving in, though. Here's the link: Redemption

Cheers!
-Dirge


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## Lord Ramo (Apr 12, 2009)

a great read it was alot like 409 loved it. +rep mate.


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