Turning Point -Warhammer 40k Fan Fiction

Chapter 12 - Retreat

         Streaking through the air almost faster than the eye could see, the las bolt pierced the middle of the opposing sniper’s head, effectively emptying it out and exiting in messy fashion.  Without wasting any time, Joseph deftly selected his next target.  Setting the crosshairs over the soldier standing closest to the Captain down below, he squeezed the trigger of his rifle again.  The shot took him high in the chest and the soldier quickly spun down out of view.
 
         Panic abruptly broke out in the horde below.  The opposing soldiers started to fire at the Captain and his entourage as they retreated backwards.  Grace nimbly dove to the side of their shots and took down two without even blinking.

         Cursing wildly over the vox, Scario began taking shots with his solid round sniper rifle.  The loud report of the weapon echoed through the valley as he dispatched one of the soldiers below.  “You better have a damned good reason for this Joseph!  If not, I’ll personally have your hide!”

         Joseph ignored his taunts and continued firing on the receding soldiers below.

         “Grace, get to the vehicle and activate the weapons system!”

         “Acknowledged, Captain.”  Firing behind her without looking, Grace dashed for the vehicle in the distance.

         The Captain and Kuro had each pulled out a las-pistol, firing on the soldiers blindly as they staggered back searching for cover.  One of the Captain’s servitors slowly moved forward, raising the auto-cannon fused onto its right arm.

         Las fire streaked overhead of the firefight below.  Joseph pulled away from the scope of his rifle to find the source of the added fire.  Movement from his left caught his eye and he saw two men setting up a flanking position atop one of the closest buildings to the meeting spot.
 
         Quickly re-checking his distance, Joseph lined up the new targets.  After easily dispatching the first with a well placed shot to the head, the other man began to duck and run towards the exit of the roof.  Tracking the panicked man, Joseph wounded him in the hip.  In an almost comical fashion, the man took a few drunken steps before collapsing hard on the plascrete roof.  Joseph unmercifully finished the fallen man with a follow-up shot high in his chest.  Wordlessly, the man raised his arms to the sky as if to ask the question why, and then finally fell limp and motionless.

         A deep cry of pain rang out over the vox channel.  Switching his attention back to the firefight below, Joseph noticed Kuro stumbling to the ground behind a metal container.  He was holding his shoulder from an obvious ordinance wound.  Kuro screamed in rage as he ripped a portion of his huge outer jacket to create a makeshift tourniquet.  The Captain kept a steady stream of fire at the attackers as he crawled over next to Kuro.

         The Captain’s attack servitor peppered the opposition with its fixed auto-cannon, sending several of the soldiers diving for cover.  Ejected shells rained on the ground around the servitor, piling up after a few seconds.  Kuro and the Captain used the diversion to run to another set of barrels closer to the escape vehicle that Grace was now pulling up in.  Two medium sized las-cannons attached to the top of the urban vehicle fixed on the enemy’s location and began to bore gaping holes into their cover.

         “Four and Five, retreat to your rendezvous points.  Meet at point beta in seven hours if followed.  We’ll regroup and pick you up.  Maintain radio silence.  One out.”

         “Acknowledged, One.  We’ll meet you on the other side,” Scario replied to the Captain’s orders.

         “Get out of here, Five.  We’ll have words about this later.”  Joseph heard the anger in Scario’s voice, but regarded it with casual indifference.

         “Understood, Four.  Heading to the rendezvous point.”

         Glancing down one last time, Joseph saw the enemy soldiers retreating under the combined barrage of the Captain’s transport vehicle and the attack servitor.  Satisfied that they would be able to escape safely, Joseph quickly dismantled his las-rifle and stowed it inside of the case once again.  Remembering to stay low until totally out of sight, he jumped the guard rail at the top of the hill and walked onto the city street above.  The crowd began at a sidewalk some twenty or so feet away, streaming in and out of a local café.  Joseph tried his best to look inconspicuous as he briskly marched to join the crowd.

         Gently pushing through the crowd, Joseph stopped abruptly as he saw three soldiers scanning the swarm from the other side of the street.  Two local arbiters joined the soldiers as they conversed and pointed in several different directions, including his own. 

         Wincing, Joseph remembered the vox bead in his ear and quickly took it out, placing it in his pocket.  Although small, it could still expose him as something other than a simple tourist to a trained eye.  Scanning the surrounding buildings, he turned around and started walking towards an alley between a civilian Air-Car service shop and an eatery.

         Not glancing back, he quickened his pace a bit and saw a pathway in the back of the alley leading to some dense foliage.  He turned and took a peek around the edge of the building, trying to make out the soldier’s position through the passing crowd.  He couldn’t find where the men had wandered off to, so he turned around and jogged lightly towards the trees in the back of the alley.

         Passing by several trash containers, he observed a solid metal emergency escape leading to the top of the building.  Jumping up, he grabbed the sliding ladder and pulled it down to within easy reach.  Climbing partially up, he slung the case holding the rifle onto the top of the first platform, sliding it snug against the building and out of immediate sight.  Climbing back down, he pushed the ladder back up and ran for the thick green foliage.

         “You, stop where you are and put your hands in the air!”

         Stopping dead in his tracks, Joseph slowly raised his hands and turned around.  One of the soldiers had his rifle trained on Joseph’s body, while two more came from around the corner and raised theirs in alarm.  They moved forward in unison, tense and ready for trouble.

         “What are you doing here?  Name and Ident card,” the shouting man continued.  Joseph could tell he was the higher ranking soldier without even glancing at the man’s uniform.

         “Some guy just took off with my suitcase!  I have all of my overnight gear and trader licensing inside of it!”  To emphasize his statement, Joseph tried his best to look distraught and pointed behind him to the path leading into the trees.

         “Name and Ident card, I’m not going to ask you again!”

         Trying his best to look extremely annoyed, Joseph slowly reached for his belt pocket and pulled out the miniature, rectangle electronic device.  Pressing the small button on the side of the casing, a holographic readout materialized a foot or two in front of Joseph, displaying a rotating view of his head.  Identification information scrolled at the bottom.

         Underneath Joseph’s three dimensional profile read the name Kane Grendel.  The information went on to indicate that his occupation was that of an Air-Car parts salesman.  The Ident number and relevant information had been hurriedly created by the one of the Captain’s tech team.  Joseph was instructed that the information behind the fake identity would only hold up to a small amount of scrutiny.  If the local authorities feed the information into a filter, his cover would be blown.

         “Mr. Grendel.  We’re in the area searching for suspicious activity.  Could you describe the person who stole your bag,” the soldier to the leader’s right asked.

         “Certainly, Sir.  He’s about twenty or so, a little less than two meters tall, and had what looked like a dark blue armored jacket on.  I was just exiting the eatery when he pulled me to the side and grabbed my suitcase.  He had a rather large weapon underneath the front side of his jacket.  I was quite startled!”  Joseph once again put on his best theater face, trying to emphasize his shaken condition.

         “What kind of weapon?” asked the third soldier.

         “If I had to guess, it was some sort of rifle.  Look, he took off towards that path there.  He told me that if I went after him he’d kill me.  It looked like he was on the run from somebody or something.”  The soldiers looked at each other and lowered their rifles from Joseph’s body.

         “Mr. Grendel, stay nearby.  Find a seat at the eatery and we will send an Arbiter to take your statement and claim.  Jones, McCall, let’s move.”  The leader voxed in the new developments to his superiors as the three men ran down the alley and proceeded on the path into the woods.

         Acting as if he was complying with the man’s orders, Joseph waited until they were out of sight before he bolted back towards the ladder to retrieve his weapon case.  Climbing all the way up this time, he took the case by the handle and descended down the ladder.  Just as he pushed the metal frame back up, he heard footsteps behind him.

         “So if he told you that he would kill you if you followed, why were you running after him?  There was no guy, was there?”

         Joseph recognized the voice of the higher ranking soldier behind him.  The muzzle of the man’s rifled was swiftly jammed between his shoulder blades.  Annoyed for being so careless, he let out a short, frustrated laugh and placed the case on the ground in front of him.

         “I suppose not.”

         “Usor to base, we have the suspect.”

         Joseph could hear the reply broadcast into the man’s vox earpiece, “Copy that, Staff Sergeant.  Proceed to headquarters.”

         “Roger that, base.”  Joseph could hear the click of the Staff Sergeant changing the vox channel.  “McCall, Jones, I have our boy.  Rendezvous back at the transport on Main Street.”






         Joseph struggled against the hard plastic handcuffs tightly wrapped around his wrists.  With his hands behind his back, he could no longer see the electronic lock and the flashing red light where a traditional key usually was located on low tech planets.

         “Stop struggling or it will pull tighter,” the soldier sitting across from him in the back of the old transport vehicle informed him.  There was not even a hint of compassion in the man’s voice.  “Or struggle and it’ll cut off the circulation in your hands.  Either way I could care less.”

         Joseph glared at the young soldier sitting on the bench across from him.  After escorting him roughly from the alley, a weathered and scarred transport truck had pulled over to the side of the street.  Shoving him in the back, one of the low ranking soldiers had followed him inside while the other two sat up front in the driving cabin.  A small rectangular port hole was all that allowed view into the front cabin and remained the singular source of light in the dim, dusty rear cabin.

         Searching for any means of escape, Joseph racked his brain trying to find a way out of the truck alive.  Once they took him back to their headquarters, his already weak identity would be subject to too much inquiry and he could be in for some major trouble.

         Joseph forced himself to calm down.  He noticed that he was struggling involuntarily with the handcuffs behind him, and they were starting to painfully strangle his wrists.  He took a few deep breaths and used the mental technique his father had taught him for clearing his thoughts.  Even if they did take him back to HQ, there was still a chance that his ID would hold up long enough for him to figure out something there.  His heart rate dropping, Joseph began to feel more relaxed.

         The soldier across from him took out a lho stick and lit it.  Taking a deep draw from the skinny stick, the man blew a huge puff of smoke in Joseph’s face.  Coughing slightly, Joseph forced himself to remain calm and turned to look out of the front port window instead.

         Straining, Joseph could barely make out the conversation a soldier was engaged in over the vox in the front.

         “…informed that he would be armed and dangerous,” crackled a man’s voice over vox speaker.

         “Affirmative.  We found a case with a generic Mark twelve las-rifle with sniper scope inside.  We’re currently on Main Street, heading onto Highland Avenue.”  The vox crackled a few more instructions that Joseph failed to make out.  “Roger that, base.  Inform the Inquisitor that we will take the upmost care with his prisoner.”

         Joseph snapped his head back to look at the smoking soldier in front of him without realizing he did it.  His eyes widened, alarm broke out all over Joseph’s face.  The soldier quickly looked up at Joseph, startled by his abrupt gaze.

         Squinting his eyes slightly, the soldier started, “Hey, what…”

         Not letting a full sentence out of the man’s throat, Joseph leaned back against the side wall of the truck’s back cabin, and struck out with both of his legs.  Using all of the power he could amass, the blow took the defenseless soldier square in his chest.  The lho stick dropped from the soldier’s hands, ashes scattering all over once it hit the cabin floor.

         A loud choking sound emitted from the man as he grabbed his broken collar bone.  Not waiting for the man to react further, Joseph followed his strike by bringing the top of his head up underneath the man’s chin.  The choking sound stopped immediately as the young soldier fell to the floor unconscious.

         “What the hell?  McCall, what’s going on back there?”  Turning his body around, the Staff Sergeant in the front cabin peered through the small window.  Not being able to see either his fellow soldier or the prisoner in the back, he yelled in alarm.  “Jones, stop the vehicle!”

         Finished with pulling the limp body towards him, Joseph let go of the unconscious soldier’s leg and continued to stick tight against the wall dividing the cabins for a moment longer.  Dropping the electronic key that he had taken from the fallen man’s belt pocket, he rubbed his wrists as they were finally free from the restriction of the handcuffs.  Feeling the vehicle slow down drastically, Joseph heard the small window being slid open and looked up.  As soon as the Sergeant tried to stick his head part-way through the window, Joseph leapt up and stabbed the man in the eye with the still lit lho stick.

         Screaming in agony, the soldier jerked away from the window and began to stream curses that would make even the most hardened Guard veteran blush.  The piercing shriek prompted the driver to fully slam on the brakes and bring the truck to a grinding halt.

         “Shoot that son of a bitch!”

         “But sir, you heard the orders.  We gotta bring him in alive!”

         “Then shoot him in the leg, I don’t care.  Just shoot the bastard!”

         The driver side front door of the truck popped open as the Staff Sergeant continued to spew agonized curses from the front cabin.

         Searching frantically, Joseph found no weapons on the downed soldier.  Even the benches on the side of the truck were made out of the same mold as the walls.  Joseph realized that he was at a major disadvantage, especially since he noticed that the back doors of the truck were controlled electronically and the soldier never had to step close to open them.

         A thought instantaneously jolted through his brain.  Scooping up the unconscious soldier from the floor, Joseph grunted as he moved to the back.  Ready any moment for them to open, he held the man between him and the doors.

         After a brief click or two, the motor inside of the doors came to life and they began to slide open.  Staying to the left hand side, Joseph waited until the opening was just large enough to fit a man through.  Sunlight from outside pierced the inner gloom as the opening reached Joseph’s anticipated width.

         With all of the muscle he could muster, he flung the dead weight of the man onto the waiting soldier outside.  Caught by surprise, the soldier accidentally fired twice into the air as he fell to the ground with the comatose man on top of him.  He was able to fling the body off of him and to the side in a couple of seconds, but it was still not enough time to save him.
 
         Joseph leapt from the truck and jumped to the ground next to the struggling soldier.  As soon as the man had moved the body off from on top of him, Joseph kicked down with his heel onto the man’s face.  Feeling a crunch as he brought his foot down hard, the soldier underneath it fell limp and silent.

         Reaching down to grab the rifle from the downed man’s hands, Joseph heard an ominous click from behind him.

         “Move and I will open a hole in you wide enough to fly a ship through,” the pained and angry voice of the Staff Sergeant said from behind Joseph.


Coming Soon: Chapter 13 - Confinement