Solo Mission write up - 'The Eclipse'

cheers bud, Memnon already dissmissed working for the Tau... by saying the orders came from his watch captian.

plus killing thousands of Tau innocents prob negated the whole, in the interests of the greater good.



A bit of a buddy movie like, but when your the only imperial agents in a whole sector, it may well be wise to pool resources.

Aww friend!The real buddy bit coming up soon.
I thought that they were going to have a cuddle at one point.
So he was fighting the the crisis suit and i thought it was going to be a big epic boss fight and take a while but he just full auto'd it with kraken rounds and Crit'd 4 times and killed it strait out. It wasnt supposed to have a sheild generator so i had to retcon it so i could hit him back!

Can't get good minions these days eh Rob?

I really cant your all far to hard

Ok then, get ready for the true buddy moment. enjoy!




Darkness

His mind feels free of any mortal bonds as it wonders.

Who am I? The unformed words play through his senses, spoken but not said.

Silence & darkness is all consuming.

A memory of something Alien & colossal comes to him in a wave & for a moment he feels the Bioship around him, almost smells it, almost hears it. When he concentrates & focuses, he realises it is only a mirage, more the memory of a sound, of a smell.

This new unconsciousness is different; the constant background noise has changed, the organic melody of beating of whooshes & humming, the smell of decomposition & rebirth. It is missing he is elsewhere.

His mind races as flashes of a different foe race past just beyond his weary senses.

Something mechanical, balanced, almost peaceful?

A sound.

So indistinct that his mind questions whether he actually heard it at all.

There it is again, a voice?

‘Wake up!’ the invasive sound steals the marine from the blackness & a bloodshot eye flashes open.

A black shape looms before him & Memnon reaches for his blade, only to find it wedged fast in something else massive & alien. An eloquent voice breaks through the haze.

‘Tau units are closing on our position!’

Memnon’s eye re-focused bringing the Assassin into sudden clarity. He nodded a response before making to rise. Raw pain in his chest caught his breath & he could feel the tell-tale double beating, as his second heart battled to eleaviate the strain of the primary. The Scythe fought against the waves of drug & pain induced nausea before he collapsed again into a heap.

‘You need to get up Marine, I can’t lift you!’

Unable to muster the breath to speak Memnon sent a vox acknowledgement then motioned for his helmet, which the Vindicare passed over. He locked the Mark III helm into place & his vital signs started to scroll across his vision.

+++ Fused ribcage, multiple fracture, Sternum fracture, Diaphragm ruptured, primary heart in dysrhythmia, right lung punctured....+++

The list went on & Memnon realised then that the Tau blade had sheared right through his ribcage & sternum damaging the vital organs beneath. His breathing was laboured & blood seemed forever in his gullet. Despite his enhanced physiology the wound refused to clot. He ignored a toxin level warning & blink clicked to up his armour’s pain killer & stimulant dosage to well above the recommended limits.

Strength returned to his limbs slowly & he started to rise. The Vindicare made to brace himself & shoulder some of the Marines weight, but Memnon shooed him away. The gesture was a token one at best; even high of battle stimulants the assassin couldn’t hope to support a towering Astartes in full battle armour.

Memnon’s breathing came in hot, sharp pain-filled rasps & he motioned the Vindicare to jump from the moving hauler. Memnon turned to pull his re-forged blade from the Crisis suit. He’d wedged the thing fast, but with a cry of pain the marine managed to free the blade.

The Vindicare was already moving & had jumped to a smaller vehicle before leaping again into the suburbs of Providence city. The Marine followed after stooping to collect the Tau powerblade at his feet, something was preventing his wounds from clotting normally. If he made it back to the Piriam perhaps Zhenon could analyse the blade to explain why? Though if Memnon was being honest, the thought of having to interact with the foul tempered Magos again, was only just preferable to bleeding out on an Alien planet.

The Cargo hauler tilted as Memnon made his way drunkenly towards the edge. He tumbled rather then jumped clear of the damaged skimmer, crashing several meters to the ground below. Sparks burst as ceramite plates scraped the metallic surface of the Tau thoroughfare, as the marine tumbled clear & over the edge of the transport route.


*****

After almost six hours of pursuit & evasion the two imperial agents made it to the safety of the desert wastelands surrounding Providence. Memnon’s wound had finally started to clot & he grunted involuntary as his heavy footfalls disturbed their recovery. The fused ribcage was knitting together now, & level of blood find its way into the scythes mouth & throat had dissipated. In truth the loss of blood alone would have rendered him unconscious, if not for the amount of stimulants his Armour had pumped into his system

The Assassin was also showing signs of exhaustion as the hangover of painkillers & battle stimulants finally kicked in. Memnon could tell that the Vindicare’s chest wound was more serious than he had let on. Fresh blood glistened through the synthetic body-glove catching the twin moonlight as it shone from above.

Memnon stopped in his tracks & turned to face the Vindicare.

‘This is where I take my leave.’ He announced, the first words shared our side of an operational capacity since they left the city behind.

‘Indeed’ came a high gothic reply, plagued as it was by rasping breaths. The Vindicare frowned underneath his facemask when he realised that his drop-pod was just over the next dune.

‘How…?’

‘May the Emperor Guide you’ said Memnon cut in turning away, back towards his own extraction point. He made to leave but the Vindicare spoke again.

‘This is the first time…’ began the high gothic voice quietly, as if he was still unsure about what he was about to share ‘that I will report back to my temple having failed to claim a clean kill. I would thank you for saving me from the humility of a total failure’

Memnon turned. ‘Aun’Tan is dead, whether it was by your hand or mine it does not matter, the mission was a success. ‘

‘You know very little of the Ordos Assassinorum if you believe that to be true. To my ilk, the means bare just as much weight as the end. It is all about the art of the kill.’ The Vindicare’s impassioned words were that of a zealot speaking reverently of their religion, Memnon considered the concept for a moment & realise his analogy to be very close to the truth of the matter, there would be no swaying the Assassin point of view. He’d failed his temple, by presenting an unclean kill. I was a strange almost Alien approach, but Memnon’s warrior spirit also found it an honourable way to deal in the business of death.

‘Then you have my sympathies Assassin. A kill is a kill however you decide to dress it up’ he replied matter of factly. ‘Remember, dead men can’t argue against the explanation you give for their death. Claim the kill Assassin & go about your service to the emperor unburdened by the recrimination of your temple…. You can rest assured, my after action report won’t be mentioning your involvement here.’

The Vindicare shook his head with a sigh, his honour would not allow for that, but he couldn’t help but envy the Emperor’s Scythe amoral outlook on things. They were truly as different as the weapons they wielded, one an instrument of the perfect kill deadly, direct, silent & artful, a ghost. The other was fury unbound, death made brutal, an elemental force of nature.

Different, but equally deadly, perhaps they could learn something of their craft from the other. The Vindicare smiled underneath his mask as he un-slung the bulky sniper rifle & unclipped the scope in one fluid motion.

‘Here!’ the smaller man threw the scope to the hulking Marine & it was caught by him lightly. ‘Perhaps your next kill won’t require the application of a fully automatic burst’

Memnon responded with a deep chuckle as he turned away & stalked off into the darkness. A few moments later the towering warrior disappeared from view, consumed by the complete blackness of the desert night.

The Vindicare likewise turned away without another word & headed for his own extraction point. His footsteps were heavier now, his wound more debilitating & he realised that the Marine’s presence had made him smother the worst symptoms of his injuries.

The black clad figure passed beyond the threshold of a holo-shield gratefully & disappeared from the desert-scape as if he’d simply blinked out of existence. The extraction pod appeared before him & he entered its confines upon unsure, exhausted legs. Securing his equipment within the weapons hold, the Vindicare slumped into the reassuring support of his harness & almost without conscious thought, ran through his pre-launch protocol.

After entering his personal ciphers & gaining access to the pods cogitator unit, the Vindicare activated the pod’s medicare servitor, peeling back the body glove to expose the grievous pulse wound upon his chest. Little more than a skull with retractable metal mandibles emerged from a compartment above him, an umbilical cord of wires, tubes & hydraulics trailing behind. It buzzed around him as the pod sealed & prepared to launch itself into orbit. Green text scrolled across the view screen.

+++ Launch sequence confirmed, engine ignition ready+++

The Vindicare, stretched forward to confirm the launch code, when his hand caught something hanging from beside the screen.

He retracted his hand, threading a silver chain though his fingers until he reached the end. A smile threatened to break onto the assassins face as he discovered a five inch claw like object mounted onto the chain. Examining it closely he recognised it as being of Tyranid origin & matching many of the items that adorned the Space Marine’s armour as trophies.

Hi eyes followed the line of the chain back & he found two words written in a low gothic scrawl beside the cogitator.

‘Good luck’

The Vindicare unhooked the silver chain & looped it around his wrist before pressing the launch confirmation rune.

Moments later the extraction pod launched into the night sky above Providence city, leaving the alien planet below in chaos & disarray, never to return.

Ace i thouroughly enjoyed that mate well done.

High Five!

Nicely rounded off mate, good insight into Officio philosophy as well. You may have sneaked about and buddied up but Exitus Acta Probat, as the Vindicare would say.

Glad you all liked it.

My focus now is on preparing my own Mission & hope that it lives up to this write up.

I know, how I'd like the mission to play out, I just need to get my props ready.