- Feb 12, 2008
- 27,732
As Snake walked back along the streets under his reclaimed robe he could see the civilians running to their designated areas. For all their panic they were a hardy lot, used to living and surviving on a death world, and though many looked distraught they still carried out their tasks.
A rumbling from down the street heralded the arrival of the cities armoured division. Pulling up to their standing point crew's jumped out, checking and re-checking their massive tanks as they waited for deployment orders. Standard pattern Leman Russ battletanks dominated the group, but here and there Snake could see the elongated Vanquisher barrels, the massed heavy bolters and autocannons of Exterminators and infront of them all the guard favourite - the Demolisher. With its snub nosed main gun, it looked almost comical, but the shot from it could level entire buildings. There was not artillery such as the Basilisk, such long range guns were mounted on the curtain wall as they would be useless inside the shield.
Turning down a side alley Snake hurried. The city was much more organised than he expected, and if he wanted to get out without detection he had to hurry. The main gates were already sealed, and the smaller ones would only remain open for a few hours as refugees from the outer habs fled in under the saftey of the shield.
"I wouldn't worry Snake." The soft female voice of the Doc cut in.
"I'm not worried, " he replied, keeping his head hunched down, "they seem to be well prepared, armed and from the reports they've all gone basic militia training."
"Nice try. But you forget we've got a readout on your bodies responses. I know you're worried, " she chided back, "these people have grown up the learning to fight from childhood, I'm sure they'll be fine."
"You saw the reports." Snake's tone was blunt
"Ye-es. But there's not guarantee they will lose, with the wall and the shield -"
"All the tech in the galaxy doesn't mean nothing if there's no-one there to use it. That Ork horde outnumbered this cities population ten to one. Cut of the civvies, and its more like twenty to one. Unless the Marines have got something up their armoured sleeve it doesn't look good."
There was silence at the other end of the codec.
****************
Opening the door slowly Snake entered the control room. Whoever was suppose to be on watch here deserved to be delivered to the Ork's for leaving it unattended, especially as there would not doubt be traitors and the idiots who thought themsleves to be Orks in the city.
A garbled message repeated itself over the vox. Pausing for a moment he adjusted the equalizers and after a moment the message repeated once more.
"This is Epistolary Ademus of the Ultramarines, I demand you open the gates immediately. We will assist you in this emergency if you wish."
The marines! Checking the security ID encoded in the transmission Snake was relieved to see if come up positive. The city might still stand a chance if they could call on the Asartes chapters. Activating the control for one of the security gates he vox'd back to the Epistolary,
"This is Sergeant Miller. Glad to hear off you sir. I've opened gate 5-C and have advised Milord Lenk. He is expecting you."
A rumbling from down the street heralded the arrival of the cities armoured division. Pulling up to their standing point crew's jumped out, checking and re-checking their massive tanks as they waited for deployment orders. Standard pattern Leman Russ battletanks dominated the group, but here and there Snake could see the elongated Vanquisher barrels, the massed heavy bolters and autocannons of Exterminators and infront of them all the guard favourite - the Demolisher. With its snub nosed main gun, it looked almost comical, but the shot from it could level entire buildings. There was not artillery such as the Basilisk, such long range guns were mounted on the curtain wall as they would be useless inside the shield.
Turning down a side alley Snake hurried. The city was much more organised than he expected, and if he wanted to get out without detection he had to hurry. The main gates were already sealed, and the smaller ones would only remain open for a few hours as refugees from the outer habs fled in under the saftey of the shield.
"I wouldn't worry Snake." The soft female voice of the Doc cut in.
"I'm not worried, " he replied, keeping his head hunched down, "they seem to be well prepared, armed and from the reports they've all gone basic militia training."
"Nice try. But you forget we've got a readout on your bodies responses. I know you're worried, " she chided back, "these people have grown up the learning to fight from childhood, I'm sure they'll be fine."
"You saw the reports." Snake's tone was blunt
"Ye-es. But there's not guarantee they will lose, with the wall and the shield -"
"All the tech in the galaxy doesn't mean nothing if there's no-one there to use it. That Ork horde outnumbered this cities population ten to one. Cut of the civvies, and its more like twenty to one. Unless the Marines have got something up their armoured sleeve it doesn't look good."
There was silence at the other end of the codec.
****************
Opening the door slowly Snake entered the control room. Whoever was suppose to be on watch here deserved to be delivered to the Ork's for leaving it unattended, especially as there would not doubt be traitors and the idiots who thought themsleves to be Orks in the city.
A garbled message repeated itself over the vox. Pausing for a moment he adjusted the equalizers and after a moment the message repeated once more.
"This is Epistolary Ademus of the Ultramarines, I demand you open the gates immediately. We will assist you in this emergency if you wish."
The marines! Checking the security ID encoded in the transmission Snake was relieved to see if come up positive. The city might still stand a chance if they could call on the Asartes chapters. Activating the control for one of the security gates he vox'd back to the Epistolary,
"This is Sergeant Miller. Glad to hear off you sir. I've opened gate 5-C and have advised Milord Lenk. He is expecting you."