Well, I barely got this out before the FFML went down (I hope) Here's hoping
it returns soon. The past few years have been fun.
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-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: Warhalf.txt
Matrix Dragon Presents......
Another creation of lack of sleep and too much
caffeine...
Soldiers of the Imperium
A Warhammer 40,000/Anime Fusion, with a few other shows
thrown in for good measure.
Lots of copyrights.
***
In one possible future, mankind ruled the galaxy. With their
powerful technology, they created thinking machines, the Iron Men.
Together, they forced the alien races back to the very edges of
space.
Then, the Iron Men turned on their creators. The first human
empire was consumed by a massive civil war. When it ended, the Iron
Men were no more, but humankind was crippled. While human warmongers
made a grab for power, the aliens that had been beaten back attacked,
and then, the Gods themselves attacked. The foul Chaos Gods, four
demons from the sub-universe known as the Warp.
Humanity burned and died for almost five thousand years. But
they managed to rebuild, sort of.
This is the age of the Imperium, the second human empire, one
that has lasted for ten thousand years. Technology is more like
magic, with only a small few truly understanding it. They did not
create this technology. They scavenged it from the ruins of the old
empire. The immortal Emperor is treated as a God, with an entire
religion based around him. It is the only religion permitted.
Now, mankind is on the brink of destruction. Across the entire
galaxy, the Imperium is under attack, by aliens of all types,
traitors and rebels, and even the minions of the foul Gods of Chaos.
The only thing that holds back the destruction is the various armies
of mankind: the geneticly enhanced super-humans of the Adeptus
Astartes, also known as the Space Marines. The Adepta Sororitas, the
female warriors of the Imperial Cult. The Inquisitors, hunting down
traitors, heretics and aliens. The Adeptus Mechanicus, the Tech-
priests who study the ancient technology and attempt to rebuild it
into weapons of war.
And of course, the Imperial Guard. The largest army in history.
Tens, maybe hundreds of billions of soldiers, fighting across the
galaxy.
Despite these massive numbers, it is still never enough, and
more soldiers are always needed....
***
The planet Tokyo is a rather small world, out of the way of
most of the galaxy. The only real problems they have ever had were
pirates causing disruptions to trade almost a thousand years ago.
They have a small planetary defense force, and a few ships from the
Imperial Navies for defense.
In the year M41.975, some general decided to make a play for
power. He took control of almost half the Tokyo Defense Force, and
attempted to take over the planet. After a year of heavy fighting, he
was finally defeated.
After looking at how the loyal TDF handled the crisis, it was
decided that Tokyo would supply three regiments to the Imperial
Guard. They began recruiting almost instantly, and by the end of the
year, almost ten thousand men and women were waiting to board the
troopships in orbit.
***
Ranma Saotome looked out of the viewport, watching as the
planet below him began to shrink. He still couldn't really accept
that he'd never see it again. In his mind, he knew and understood it,
but his heart wasn't listening.
"Still kinda hard to believe, isn't it?" a voice said. Ranma
looked up to see Lina Inverse standing there. They had both been
assigned to the same squad, under an absolute jerk of a sergeant.
Back on Tokyo, they'd both been wanderers, travelling the world, and
had quickly become friends after meeting each other a few days ago.
"Yeah, it is hard to believe," he replied. "I still can't
really accept that we'll never see it again. I'm sure I did the right
thing signing up though."
Lina nodded. "It's not like there's much back there for us."
She sat down next to him. "Take me. I built up such a reputation that
I couldn't enter a city without some wanna-be trying to beat me to
show how great he was."
"I had a similar problem," Ranma replied. "My old man was a big
con-man. Scammed so many people it ain't funny. And a lot of them
came after me!" He growled. "Turns out the old fool engaged me to
about ten different girls."
"Yeowch," Lina muttered. "That really sucks. How'd he think he
could... wow, would ya look at that!"
"Huh?" Ranma glanced out the window again. Tokyo could no
longer be seen, as the transport had rotated, and they were now
looking at a massive vessel, floating in the void.
Larger the the entire city of Nerima, the vessel was long and
thin. On was was undoubtably the top of the craft, what looked like a
hundred churches rose up, gun emplacements on the tower. Weapons
batteries and landing bays ran along the side of the ship, before
ending at a large armoured plate that covered the front of the craft.
At the rear, powerful engines glowed a dull blue.
"That's the Emperor's Touch," Lina said. "I've seen the picts,
but the real thing...." She simply let her voice trail off. She
didn't need to finish the statement. Ranma understood what she meant
perfectly.
***
Soon, their shuttle had landed on their transport ship, some
vessel that Ranma didn't know the name of. They left the shuttle, and
soon found themselves turning over their weapons at security.
"Turn over all firearms, and state your name and rank, family
names first," a bored officer said.
Ranma placed his lasgun and two pistols on the table. "Saotome
Ranma, Trooper."
Lina placed her lasgun, a saw-off shotgun and an old autopistol
on the table. "Inverse Lina, Trooper."
Behind them, the rest of the squad went through the same thing,
although Ranma noticed that the sergeant didn't turn over an
autopistol hidden in his fatigues.
After that, they were shown to their bunks, told where they
were allowed to go, before they were left alone, with nothing to do
until the rest of the troops boarded.
***
Almost a day later, several troop carriers, along with several
ships as escorts, left Tokyo and set off across the galaxy, to one of
the countless war-zones.
***
"This is Redermade," General Soun Tendo said to the assembled
officers. "Ten months ago the planetary governer broke away from
Imperial rule, and since then Imperial Guard forces have been
attempting to retake the planet. The planet is a hive world, and the
governer was able to turn the majority of the natives to his side. So
far, Guard forces have retaken one of the hive cities and are using
it as a staging ground. We will be reinforcing the Dalen 4th, which
have suffered serious losses on the front line." A section of the map
on the viewscreen behind the General glowed red, indicating the area
the Tokyo Regiments would be deployed in.
"First Regiment, companies one through six wil deploy here,"
Tendo continued, as a subsection of the red area flashed blue.
"Our armoured company, Seventh company, will remain in reserve, ready
to support an offensive. Second Regiment will deploy here. Third
Regiment will deploy along this last section. Colonel Rezo and
Colonel Miller will determine the arrangements for their own
regiments. We arrive at Redermade in two weeks. I want our men as
ready as possible. Take a good look at the intel data you've been
given. I want Tokyo to get a reputation as Guardsman who do what
they're meant to do. I don't want us to lose this battle. Do I make
myself clear?"
"Yes sir!" The officers replied.
"Good. Dismissed."
***
Lina was in the ships entertainment area, playing the latest
flight sim, 'Alien Hunter.' The original was something cooked up by a
techpriest years ago. Although the techpriest had been punished for
experimenting in technology that the authorities believed was best
left forgotten, a decade later they decided that it was useful as a
propaganda tool.
After all, if all the enemy aircraft are as weak as a wet piece
of paper, it helps convince the public how powerful the Imperium is,
right?
Lina didn't care about any of that. What mattered to her was
that there was a high score on this machine that matched her best.
She'd be damned if she was going to let that stand!
Ranma, several guardsman and a few crewmen watched as she flew
her Lightning around several explosions, before opening fire with her
autocannon, reducing an Ork fighta-bomber to tin-foil. From the
ground below her, several Ork Big Gunz started blasting away. Lina
banked left, then launched a missile, wiping the Gunz from existance.
Her score climbed.
Now came the traditional end of level boss. An Ork Gargant, a
giant robot in the distorted image of an Ork. The Servitor in her
aircraft located several weak points on the death machine. Each
location had a different points value, based on difficulty. Most
gamers went for the easy targets. Lina on the other hand, opened up
the turbines and raced past the machine, before coming back around
for an attack run.
Las-fire sped forward from the Lightnings wing-tips, tearing
apart the Gargants back armour as it turned to face her. She sped
past, peppering the head section with autocannon fire, then performed
an Immelmann, bringing her about for another attack. The Gargants
mouth opened, revealing a large energy cannon preparing to fire.
Lina launched her last rocket straight down it's throat before
pulling up and powering up the turbines to max. The screen cut to a
pre-made clip of the fighter launching into space, with the Gargant
blowing apart underneath it. Lina's score skyrocketed.
Ranma smirked. "Enjoying yourself, ain't you?" he asked.
"Damn straight," Lina replied. "Who knows when I'll get to play
one of these things again. Might as well enjoy it while I can. Hey,
anyone know if this is like the real thing?"
"Not even close," a navy pilot said. "The game has ten, maybe
twelve buttons. The real things have nearly a hundred different
controls. And Gargants are a lot more dangerous then that."
"Ouch," Lina commented. "I'll stick to the life of a
footslogger, me thinks. Oooh, Eldar. I love pounding on these guys!"
***
And so time passed on the frigate Pioneer. Over the next two
weeks, life for the Guardsmen consisted of heavy training, sleep, and
relaxing. In her time off, Lina made the arcade her second home,
quickly putting the old high scores to shame. Ranma came in a close
second, but spent a lot of time in the gyms, sparing with other
trained fighters from both the Navy and Tokyo.
Soon, there was only a day before the Tokyo regiments would
enter the battlefields of Redermade. Ranma found himself sitting in
an observertory, looking out over the void of space. They had dropped
out of Warp space and re-entered normal reality just over an hour
ago, and Ranma was hoping to see this world they'd be fighting on.
"Ah, so this is where you've been hiding," a voice said. Ranma
glanced up to see Tenchi Masaki, a trooper from second platoon,
walking towards him, Lina not far behind. He'd met Tenchi in the gym,
where the pair had had a number of sparring matches.
"Just admiring the view," he said. "What about you two?"
"Looking for you actually," Lina said. "We're to be on our
transports at 1400 hours."
"That gives us-" Ranma checked his watch, "-another ten hours.
What's the rush?"
"Word is the rebels launched a major offensive. The Guardsmen
down there took a beating," Tenchi said. The swordsman looked out the
large viewport. "That's a nice view."
"Peaceful too. Lap it up guys, we might not get to see it
again." Lina and Tenchi pulled up some seats. "Hey Tenchi, I've been
meaning to ask you, where'd you come from? Back on Tokyo, I mean."
"I'm from outside Juuban, on the North continent," Tenchi
replied. "My grandfather was a minor noble of some sort, who grew
tired of all the politics and faked his death. Then he had a
daughter, who married my father, an architect. Mother died when I was
little, and after the woman I loved died, I decided to join the
Planetary Defense Force, and the Guard from there. There wasn't
really much left for me there. I didn't really want to follow in my
fathers footsteps, and Grandfathers old career had too many problems
in it, so I decided to make my own."
Lina nodded. "It was really the same sorta choice for me. I'm
sure you heard all the stories about the deadly Lina Inverse, the
adventurer who defeated evil criminals and heretics all the time."
Both men nodded. "After a while, it became too much. I couldn't go
anywhere without being recognised. I'd gotten a reputation as a
trouble magnet, so people either avoided me, or tried to defeat me so
they could look big and strong. I had to get away from it all. When
the government declared they were raising Guard regiments, I realised
that this was my best chance to get away from the madness and just be
some soldier. Besides, there really wasn;t much for me back there."
She turned her attention to Ranma. "What about you Saotome? You've
mentioned a few bits and pieces before."
Ranma sighed. "When I was a kid, Pops took me off on this
training trip. We spent the next ten years travelling across Tokyo,
until some of his past caught up with him. Namely, the fact he had
ripped off countless shopowners, and engaged we to at least ten
girls!" Ranma growled, and Lina and Tenchi sighed. "Anyway, the last
thing I saw of him was some guy in one of those powered suits you see
on docks for heavy lifting attacking him. We got seperated, and I
realised that the only way to avoid having all the problems there was
to simply sign up."
"I guess we all have that in common," Tenchi said. The others
looked at him. "We didn't really have anything for us back home, and
we wanted to leave our pasts behind."
Ranma nodded. "Yeah, well let's see how long our new lives last
before we get too comfortable."
***
Redermade was a Hive world. That is, a planet with giant cities
containing tens of millions of people. The total population was over
currently estimated at over twenty billion, and had been closer to
forty before the Imperial Navy reduced several Hive cities to rubble.
As Ranma stepped off the transport craft, he noted that it
really was just some dirtball with every natural resource drain dry.
"What does the Imperium want with a junk heap like this?" he
muttered.
"Mankind must remain united," a Commissar said, "and those that
would seek to destroy our hard-earned unity must be punsihed, as a
lesson. Both to them, and to others that would follow in their
footsteps."
Ranma glanced at the political officer. "Uh, right. Thanks so
very much." He turned to Lina. "I hate the propaganda answers," he
muttered.
"Move it you lot!" The sergeant yelled. "Into the trucks!"
***
"The Tokyo's are a rather new regiment," General Parker of
the Cadian 21st said. "They haven't had time to get a high opinion of
themselves like many other regiments."
"That is true, but I have a major problem with them," replied
Colonel Nowles of the Valhallen 15th. "Women in combat? What a joke."
"Have you forgotten the Adepta Sororitas?" Commissar Barnes
asked. "Those warriors are all women. The females of the Tokyo
Regiments prove their worth to the Emperor just as much as the men.
I admire their devotion."
"We'll see how much you admire it after they see combat,"
Nowles replied. "Where are they being deployed anyway?"
***
"What a dump," Ranma Saotome commented. He was right. The
battleground was hit hard by almost a year of constant war here,
leaving most of the place mud, mixed with a good helping of blood.
The mud was about a foot deep, which made for fun trenches.
"Could be worse," Lina Inverse replied.
"Yeah, how?"
"I'm still thinking on that one."
"Move it you two," their sergeant growled. Ranma barely
refained from hitting the man. Dilgear was so hairy it almost looked
like fur, and had the personality of a wolf. He bossed around anyone
lower ranked then him, and kissed the ass of anyone higher ranked.
The squad walked down the trenches, until they were given their
billets. Some of the troopers, mostly city kids, were disgusted by
the sleeping arrangements. Ranma and Lina had more experience with
bad beds, and set up without a single complaint.
***
Tenchi was manning a Heavy Bolter gun emplacement, cup of
caffiene in his hands. The night had passed without incident, and the
Tokyo Regiments were beginning their life as guardsmen. He'd spent
the last four hours on this metal tower, watching for enemy movement.
So far, he was bored. Nothing had happened. Not that he minded
that, oh no. He'd like to keep it boring if possible.
"Yo, Masaki."
Tenchi looked down from the tower to see a guardsman climbing
the ladder. "Hey Bill. You get the food?"
"Yeah. How much longer we stuck up here?"
"Another two hours. Want a cup?"
"Sure thing. Thanks."
Just as Tenchi bent down, there was a distant ping. When he
turned around, Bills body slumped to the ground, part of his head
missing.
Tenchi leapt for the Heavy Bolter. "We're under attack!" he
yelled into his comm-link. Through the weapons scope he saw figures
in the distance. "Enemy infatry at five hundred metres out!" He
squeezed down on the trigger, launching a barrage of large calibre
shells off into the distance. None hit, although the rebels dove for
cover.
Las-fire emerged from almost four hundred metres out. The
attack had begun.
***
Ranma flicked the safety off on his lasgun, then rested it on
top of the trench for a look through his scope. The rebels were still
four hundred metres out, too far for las-fire to have any effect, but
at least he'd know where to shoot.
Suddenly, a tiny flash of light whizzed past his head, turning
a tiny glob of mud to steam and dirt. Ranma dropped back into the
trench. All that weakened blast would have done was given him a
slight rash if it hit, but it was still startling. "Shit! I guess
this is it," he muttered.
Lina nodded, and loaded a fuel tank into her flamer. "Let's
make Tokyo proud."
"We fire as soon as they're in range!" Sergeant Dilgear
growled. "Don't waste your ammo. Single shots, highest setting.
Inverse, switch to your lasgun until they're close. Open fire on my
signal."
Ramna adjusted his gun, rested it against the trench. Looking
through his scope, he targeted one of the rebels. Bland and dull in
his grey body armour, he was to be Ranma's first kill. His finger
rested on the trigger, waiting.
Then his world went up in fire.
***
Tenchi glanced to the right. Almost twenty metres down the
trenches, a mortar shell had landed right in the middle of a squad.
"What was I thinking?" he muttered, sweeping the Heavy Bolter across
the approaching infantry. Through the bulky scope on top of the gun
he saw a two man weapons crew, reloading a mortar launcher. "Gotcha,"
he growled, spraying the area with the heavy rounds. Both men
dropped, spraying blood. Tenchi swung the gun away, blocking out the
image. "Washuu-chan was nothing compared to this!"
Suddenly, his gun moaned and stopped firing. "Huh? Ammo jam!"
Quickly, he removed the ammo-belt, pulled out the jammed round,
reattached the ammo-belt and started firing again.
***
Ranma climbed to his feet. Most of the squad was doing the same
thing. Three of them reamained on the ground. Sergeant Dilgear was
one of them.
The city-kids were freaking, Ranma noticed. Lina and those
recruited from the TDF were pulling themselves together, but that
left two people ready to run.
"Pull yourself together!" He yelled. "If you run, you'll be
remembered as cowards! Back on Tokyo your families will consider you
nothing but fools that pretended to be soldiers, then wimped out at
the first sign of trouble."
"If we stay here we'll die," one of them replied.
"If you run away you'll die! Either by a firing squad or a
Commissar shooting you in the back of the head. You won't get to
choose either. The only chance you have at surviving is to fight. All
of you, open fire!" Ranma led by example, firing at approaching
infantry. Lina followed up, with the rest of the squad close behind.
In the distance, grey-coloured soldiers began to drop. Some of
those hit got back up, as las-fire was rather weak at these ranges.
Enemy las-fire impacted against the trench, sending up puffs of
mud. Ranma dropped down to reload, then saw one of the corpses
clutching the squads rocket launcher. Dropping the lasgun, he grabbed
the bulky weapon and checked it. <Loaded with a frag missile.
Perfect.> "Fire in the hole!" he yelled as the rest of the squad
backed off. He squeezed the trigger.
A small missile launched forward, raced across no-mans land,
and detonated in the middle of a rebel squad. "Reload," Ranma
ordered, popping open the launcher. One of the troopers tossed him
another frag missile. He aimed at another squad and fired. More
rebels died.
Suddenly Lina screamed and dropped to the trench floor. Her
upper right arm was badly injured by a las-shot. The heat of the beam
had cauterised the wound, but she was still in a lot of pain. Ranma
tossed the launcher to another soldier and pulled her out off the
mud. "Are you all right?" he asked.
"Hurts like hell," she replied through gritted teeth, "but I
can still fire a lasgun." Ranma helped her to her feet, and she
grabbed her lasgun from where it had fallen.
***
The Heavy Bolter ran out of ammo at last. Tenchi grabbed his
lasgun and leapt off the tower. Below him, the rest of his squad
blazed away, cutting down the enemy.
"Bolter's dry," he said to the platoon commander, some
Lieutenant by the name of Zolf.
"Get your lasgun and form up with your squad," Zolf replied. He
turned his attention to the comm-link in his hands. "Company command,
this is second platoon command. Rebel infantry attack on our
posistion has stalled. Request armoured support to push them back."
Tenchi flicked off the saftey on his lasgun and ran towards his
squad. Then he stopped as he saw a flash of light in the distace.
"What the?"
***
"Oh shit," Ranma muttered. "Tanks!" He glanced at the squad.
"Where's the comm-set?" One of the men stopped shooting and handed
him the headset. "Company command, this is first platoon first squad.
We have tanks approaching our posistion."
"1-1 this is company command, can you get an estimate on the
number of tanks and their make?"
"Checking now." Ranma risked looking over the edge of the
trench. "I count six Leman Russ Main Battle Tanks, two Leman Russ
Exterminators, and a Leman Russ Demolisher. No sign of any tanks
based off Chimera designs."
"Understood 1-1. We are directing armoured veichles to your
posistion."
"Great," Ranma muttered as the line went dead. "Well, until
they get here.... KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES!"
***
Several tanks trundled forward, painted in the dark grey of the
rebels. The mud and dirt didn't slow them down in any way. In fact,
the only thing slowing them down was that they didn't want to outpace
the infantry and be left open to an attack.
In the lead tank, the commander of the attack group barked out
a series of orders, both to infantry and armour alike. Glancing out
of a thin slot, the commander saw the trench ahead, and a steady
stream of las-fire that came from it.
"Fire on that trench," he ordered. "Units 12 through 17,
prepare to assault the breach."
***
Ranma fired on full auto into the approaching infantry, cutting
them down even as they tried to find cover. Then he saw the Leman
Russ Demolisher turn towards them, it's short-range cannon taking
aim. "Move!" he yelled, running down the trench. The other guardsmen
bolted.
With a roar like thunder, the section of trench exploded,
knocking Ranma off his feet. A body landed nearby. It was holding the
squads missile launcher. Ranma grabbed it, as well as a unarmed krak
missile that had landed nearby. Loading the launcher, he fired off a
shot at the Demolisher.
The shell detonated harmlessly against the thick frontal armour
of the tank.
"Have we got anything that'll get through that armour?" he
growled.
"Third squad had a Lascannon, but I think it got blasted," Lina
replied, tossing him another Krak missile. "Try to hit the vision
slit." She tossed away her lasgun and got her flamer ready.
Ranma aimed and fired. The missile hit near the vision slit at
the front of the tank, but didn't seem to do any damage.
Suddenly, the tank went up in a massive fireball, shrapnel
killing a number of rebels. Ranma glanced behind him to see a
Destroyer Tank Hunter, its powerful Laser Destroyer Cannon smoking.
The Imperial Armour had arrived.
***
With the arrival of the Armour to support First Company, it
quickly became a case of blow the other side up first. The rebels
were at a disadvantage. Their tanks were in the open, exposed to the
weaponry of the Imperial Guard.
The advance of the rebel infantry stalled, giving the Guardsmen
time to cut down more of them with las-fire. And when they finally
closed in, Lina and other troopers were waiting for them with
flamers. While almost a hundred burned, the rest retreated, their
morale destroyed with the last blows. Many more were cut down as they
ran.
***
Ranma removed the dog tags from the dead guardsmen, then had
others stack the bodies on carts. They'd be taken away from the front
lines to prevent infection.
The bodies of the rebels in no mans land were a different
story. Anyone that tried to move those bodies would most likely be
shot by enemy snipers. They pushed the corpses about three metres
away from the trenches with their weapons, tools and such, but that
was all they could do.
"Trooper Saotome?" Ranma glanced up to see the platoon
lieutenant standing there. He snapped to attention. "At ease. I
understand it was you that took command of this squad after Sergeant
Dilgear was killed?"
"Yes sir."
"Good job. Effective immediately, you're promoted to corperal
and placed in command of this squad. Understand?"
"Y-yes sir," Ranma stammered.
"Good. Report to me in two hours with full details on your
squads current combat efficency."
As the Lieutenant walked off, Lina slapped him on the back.
"Way to go sir!" she yelled.
"Gee, thanks, I think," he replied. "You're my second in
command. I buy it, you take over, got it?"
"Sure. Real confident about your life span, ain't you?"
"Take a look at Dilgear and then see if you feel confident,"
Ranma replied.
"Good point," Lina muttered.
Ranma looked out over no mans land. According to the Imperium
religion, war was a vital part of the galaxy. Mankind had to fight to
defend themselves against the alien horrors that threatened humanitys
very existance.
<So why are we fighting humans then?> Ranma thought. If it
wasn't humans he was killing, maybe it would be all right.
All that mattered was that here, man was fighting man, for a
wasteland that had no purpose. And as he thought about it, Ranma
wondered just what he was thinking when he enlisted.
***
End part one
***
In the next installment of Soldiers of the Imperium, we see the
Tokyo Rgeiments begin to settle in. Corperal Saotome learns just why
command sucks, and another rebel attack extends into the trenches
themselves.
***
Authors Notes:
This one came after reading the Gaunt's Ghost series by Dan
Abnett. These books are good for any fans of sci-fi and war, even if
you don't like the Warhammer 40,000 table-top game.
After this, I watched Ranma 1/2 The Movie, and a bit of
Slayers, then Saving Private Ryan, and then this just popped into my
head. Put familar characters in the warzones of the Imperium and
watch what happened.
With this story, I'm not going for the humor of Ranma, or the
magical mayhem of Slayers or anything else. In the Imperium, war is
everywhere, and death close by. This is going to be pretty serious,
and more so as time goes on. There will be moments of humor of
course, but not as many as the anime some of the characters are
originally from.
Matrix Dragon
"The distinction between Trade and Warfare is seen only by
those who have no experience of either." - Heironymo Sondar, House
Sondar.