Chapter 10
Hammer to Fall.
Cameron
4th March, 3023
The sound of the Artillery Train firing almost brought a tear to my eye as I watched the Auspexes. The targets compound hadn't prepared for the possibility of their artillery train being hijacked and turned against them. It was a limited benefit, the train had exhausted most of its ammunition attempting to kill us. But as the shells fell I felt the deep satisfaction of a job well done.
"Warden, we've completed loading the Storm Eagle Rockets, are you sure about this?"
The cranes were peeling away from the Dominus and I smiled. "Entirely."
The rockets roared from their racks as I poured auspex data at them, rising high towards the apex of their arcs towards the enemy stronghold. "Begin full stride!" I ordered.
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Unhappy Hour
Phillipe cowered beneath a bench as the shells rained down, there weren't many, and he guessed that the artillery train's ammunition reserves were exhausted. Across the room dozens of people were hiding in an equally undignified manner from the bombardment. They heard one of the ammunition magazines detonate with a deafening roar. But finally the explosions stopped and they stood making their way over to the armoured windows.
A sound was heard as massive rockets came in and their jaws dropped, at the apex of their arc the missiles burst and they felt a moments joy. Unfamiliar with the Storm Eagle rockets usually mounted on a Manticore they thought themselves safe for a moment. But then the submunitions plummeted and blanketed the stronghold in explosions, a Vedette was cored by half a dozen bomblets as the carpet-bombing of miniature explosives kept them all down.
"What are our defenders doing!" Phillipe roared at one of his men.
"I... I don't know, communications is overwhelmed at the moment, we think the Light Lance was taken out when the magazine went up. There's damage reports from everywhere, and so many requests for the medical unit."
Then it began.
The hillside, the forest, began to ignite in a sweeping pattern. Concealed in their fortification in the rock Phillipe and his men could only watch as their only exits ignited, the forest blazing as something moved in the shadow of night. Lightless black accentuated by the incendiary half-light of naked flames. Once it was well and truly ablaze a monster stood astride the forest backlit by the burning forest, another appeared some distance away, followed by an Atlas, Marauder, Warhammer and a pair of Catapults. Smaller mechs marched back and forth as the burning forest backlit their passage, a pair of Aerospace fighters blasting through the red-lit smoke passing curlicues of smoke behind them.
On the two bulkiest monsters eyes glowed green and on the largest it's right weapon arm glowed an ice blue.
Music began to blare at terrific volume from it.
The sad and dark overtones sent a chill up their spines as the fires blazed ever higher.
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Behemoth
The forest was ablaze, my idea having been enthusiastically embraced, the use of the melta cannon to turn the forests edge into a pyre rendering the night ablaze with crimson light as I stood before it, knowing I was backlit, the effect no doubt producing a demonic visage as the eyes of the Knight Templar glowed against the harsh backlight. The defenders were milling about like ants, panicked by the appearance of our might.
The Dominus stood over us all, it's weapons aimed at the stronghold below. Music blaring from it like an angry god. Stored in data archives found by Trotter amongst the Coffinships 'cogitators' Warden had been unbearably pleased with their discovery.
"This is Warden to the defenders of little Phil over there. We know this is his stronghold, and we know he's hold up in there with you." The transmission went out on a blanket across all frequencies. "You have fifteen minutes to bring him bound and gagged to lay at my feet. If you fail, what we did to this forest we will do to you."
The machine spirit of the Templar rose up at the Warden's speech and once more I had to suppress it's tendencies. "So, who wants to place bets on how long it takes them to bring out the the corporate jackass?"
"Fifty C-bills says he's being gift-wrapped for us by his security detachment right now." Glitch said giggling.
"Same bet that it takes ten minutes, gotta give them time to sweat." Dekker countered.
"Nobody going to bet they choose to go down with the ship?" I said amused as more bets came in over the unit comms, including Brucey who bet they'd wait until last second so he could get to strafe something.
"Not a hope." Warden said, I could sense the grin on his face.
Another voice broke over the channels. "This is Phillipe DuPonte, I'm a very wealthy man, what say I offer you ten million to go away right now?"
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Phillipe
The comms channels were silent as the monsters stood in a semi-circle around the exterior of the stronghold. He never heard Behemoth informing Glitch she lost her bet already. All he saw was a growing glow of the forest fire as it increased in magnitude and the blue glow of the monsters right arm increasing.
"And anger the MRB. No thanks. You're down to twelve minutes and a demonstration of my resolve."
With the scream of tortured ozone a blast of incandescent light ripped out from the right arm down into the stronghold striking one of the armoured bunkers birthing a short-lived star that rendered those close enough to see, yet not get caught in it, blind. A spear of light erupted from the other arm and swept across a number of buildings.
The structures didn't explode and collapse, they melted under the assault, running like lava. The turrets on its shoulders flashed and what seemed to be AC/20s flashed shells down into the stronghold blowing apart another structure.
The people in the room with him began to back away, his guards looking uncertain, fear filling their eyes.
"You think the MRB is going to be a source of worry, what will happen when I put a forty million C-Bill price tag on your head!"