Army Fluff Guns of Sotek

Second battle report. 500pt battle between the GoS and Sisters of Battle
Sorry its been a long time coming, I've had a lot of stuff going on recently and I've been struggling to find the energy to write

Spoiler: Battle Report

The next location for artefact retrieval was deep in human controlled space. They would have to be careful here, a quick in and out. The target world looked like it had once been populated, but now lay in half-occupied ruins. The Adepta Sororitas held a garrison on it too. For this mission Xi-Boc selected a commander with some battle experience. Yuq'rok-muntoa was one of the highest decorated Temple Guard Champions who managed to make it off the Old World. Since their arrival on their new home world and with no Slann to watch over it had been training and drilling its troops and studying the few battles and engagements they had had so far.

For troop selection Yuq'rok favoured a more traditional approach with a strong infantry backbone and some light supporting units to provide flexibility. Of the two infantry squads he chose, he selected a unit of Old Brood and New Brood to see how well they performed.

Skink scouts had shown that there was a small force of humans patrolling the area but not exactly where moving. With scant intelligence, Yuq'rok advanced with caution. The device the Skink priest had given him for detecting the artefact guided him towards an outcropping of ruined buildings. Between two buildings rang out the heavy thudding of a big gun. The shots landed amongst the small squadron of Saurus Death Riders. A detachment of the Itzl's Claws cohort. They were already feeling somewhat unnerved about their deployment given the fate of the previous squadron that saw action.

Under the withering fire of the heavy bolter three of their number fell. The flesh and bones of mount and rider alike were shredded by the massive rounds. Only two managed to reach cover behind a building. Surely the god to whom they rode in the name of had abandoned them.

A missile slammed into Tank Commander Huitiq's Chotek tank, almost throwing him out of his seat and shaking the crew badly. The huge vats of flammable liquids the tank carried took centre stage in his mind. He'd felt somewhat cavalier in training and weapons testing but since being deployed, but was now feeling somewhat uneasy about his position. The enemy vehicle that had fired at them was directly in front, he gave the order to take aim and unleash thermal weaponry on it. Though the shots were impressive, they achieved only moderate damage. Something was wrong with the vehicle's primary weapon.

Tet'chi and Ti'y-ainchi both ordered their transports to race forward, towards the artefact locations with their cargo of warriors keen to be in the fray. Tet'chi stopped almost on top of the objective, next to the Chotek tank and ordered the warriors out. Ockda, the New Brood squad Champion leapt out, roaring and leading his Saurus warriors forward to secure the artefact.

Ti'y-ainchi dived into an alleyway between crumbling buildings, but with the enemy directly up ahead, stopped short. Maq'zal-kutak, the Old Brood Champion lead his warriors out with Yuq'rok, the commander taking point. The opened fire all at once on the human squad in front of them with such ferocity that almost half of them went down. They were, of course backed up by the hull weapon of their transport too. With a shout to their own heathen gods, the humans returned fire to avenge their fallen comrades. Two Saurus went down, their natural scaly armour not holding up well to sustained bolter fire.

Yuq'rok, having spotted the enemy vehicle that had already taken the lives of over half his Cold One riders and shook one of his own vehicles ordered a focus fire on it. Each vehicle shot its hunter-killer missile, however only one scored a hit. Ockda's squad and their transport vehicle turned its weapons on the enemy missile tanks and, having been weakened by the sheer onslaught of weapons, it burst into flames.

Yuk'rok called for Maq'zal's squad to take cover as the humans opposite took up firing position. There was only limited protection available in the narrow alley. They took up their own positions. In the proceeding firefight another three Saurus were killed and the enemy flamethrower engulfed a fourth. Return fire took out all but one of the humans.

At the same time an angelic figure soared down from behind a ruined building with a glowing long sword. Taking Champion Ockda's young Saurus squad by surprise, she slew three of them, the foul blade cleaving through scale, sinew and bone with ease. Ockda roared a counter-challenge but it proved almost ineffective as her unnatural speed and skill left her with only light wounds from their obsinite clubs. With his squad in disarray he called for them to fall back and take up a better position.

Tet'chi spotted another squad of human warriors emerging from the same ruins the mighty angel of death flew out from. He ordered all guns from his vehicle to open fire but the range was too far. Only a couple of them fell. He radioed out the human squad's location out to warn of surprise attacks

Commander Yuk'rok, ordered Death Rider Champion Tocy to lead his much reduced squadron around the outside of a dilapidated building and engage the squad taking cover behind it to prevent them from pressing in further. With a roar of confidant defiance, Tocy lowered his spear and charged. The combination of ancient Obsinite spear tips and the rending claws of the Cold-One mounts bested the humans power armour and took down two of them.

Yuk'rok himself lead a charge from the alley they had been pinned down in towards the remaining humans. With the core fighting instinct of the saurus engaged, they pulled out their traditional weapons and fought as they remembered back in Lustria. The humans never stood a chance.

The angelic human # cast an explosive at Huitiq's Chotek tank. The explosion damaged the turret and blew off the secondary sights. The concussion killed one of the Skinks crewing the tank, splattering blood over Huitiq's face. He ordered all guns turned on her. The malfunctioning turret weapon still failed to do anything by the mighty heat from the hull mounted multi-melter hit her directly in the chest, finally downing her.

Ockda's New Brood squad were gathering themselves for an assault on the squad the remaining humans. They watched in utter disbelief as the downed angel begin to rise. A light, almost blinding, shone out as she was lifted by some unholy force. Raising her sword to the sky, she took on an ethereal and terrifying aspect. She gripped the glowing sword in both hands and brought it down, cleaving one of the Chimeras in two. The wreckage burst into flames. A few burning Skinks tried crawling out but did not get far.

In the ugly melee of Cold-One riders and human warriors, Ox'enhu, one of the remaining riders fell from his mount and was set upon with knives. He fought to the end though, killing one before he died.

With cold-blooded rage Champion Ockda raised his Obsinite club to the sky and roared a defiance. He was echoed by the rest of the squad. They unloaded everything they had at the glowing human before charging in. In one swipe of the shining sword she sliced a Saurus warrior in half. They rained down blows but a combination of agility and armour prevented the human from taking any serious wounds. A quick thrust ran the terrible blade into the chest of another saurus and a swing to the right cut through the weapon and lower body of one more.

Seemingly exhausted, the glow of the sword faded and, realising her forces were also exhausted, the human ordered a fallback.

As they disappeared amongst the ruins the lizardmen cheered. They had won their first victory. Although looking at the mass of broken reptilian bodies strewn across the battlefield, it had come at a heavy price. They quickly secured the artefact and gathered their dead and injured before leaving.

Back on board the Star Canoe the Artefacts were paraded through the main deck to much cheering and rejoicing. A procession of the forces Champions and surviving warriors was lead by Commander Yuq'rok. General Xi-Boc himself greeted the procession and butted heads with both champions and the Commander. He ordered his adjutant Aktaka to go with Yuq'rok to make a report on the battle for later study.

Note: There was a real technical problem with the hellhound. For some reason Battle Scribe did not add the special keywords for the melta-cannon so I completely missed the additional effects

 

VICTORY!

Well done. Showing those warmbloods who the real champions are.

 

I need to work on lowering my casualty rate next

 

I have a bunch of overhead ones. Most my infantry units here were armless as I am still cutting and modding guns onto them so they don't look great. I can post them though if you are interested.

 

A sequal to my previouse Necromunda story.
Note: I'm not sure where these stories fall in the Guns of Sotek timeline, or even if they are cannon at all to it. Just a fun little tale about cyberpunk lizards.

Spoiler: Underworld: Redux

"That's a stupid plan. It'll never work!" Ka'rah hissed. She paced the dank room restlessly. The armoured scales of her reptilian body reflected the dim light from the single lamp.

"I dunno, sounds like it could be fun." Ruk-Gar said with an air of mirth. His own bulky reptilian form draped bonelessly over a collapsed sofa.

"Yeah, because you know it'll fail and you'll get an excuse to light the place up with the big guns again." Ka'rah spat back.

"Will both of you shut up! Listen, the place is in on the surface level. The don't allow 'mutant' types up there. We'd be have the Enforcers on us within minutes." Ital grunted, "Te'al'k assures me that the illusion spells she's been working on will work flawlessly, at least for a few hours anyway."

The smaller, lighter built lizard turned around and picked up his cigar case. He opened it, took out one and slowly clipped it before lighting it. He breathed in, held the smoke for a couple of seconds and let it out again

"Now, we have another chance, a good chance to pick up one of the artefacts. The deal is going down at a nightclub. Elysiums' Edge, some classy joint. We've got an idea what the dealers look like, you've seen the photos. The idea is that we intercept the deal as its taking place and get out in the confusion."

"OK, so who's going?" Ka'rah asked.

"Well we want some heavy hitters, so that'll you and Ruq-Gar. Then we'll need someone who knows what they are doing and some magical support if things go sideways. So that will be me and Te'al'k."

The Skink took a long drag on his cigar before blowing a huge cloud of blue-grey smoke.

"The hit goes down tomorrow night. I've got a few maps of the place that we can go over but I don't know how reliable they are. Most important thing is figuring out the entry and exit points…"

###

The four lizardmen stood in the centre of the basement room, shifting uneasily. A few magical trinkets hung with feathers hung from walls and looked incongruous against the mouldering concrete. A small burner set up on a pile of bricks and fashion magazines emitted scented smoke.

"OK, Te'al'k. Lets do this. Ruq-Gar, you're first." Itar said.

The Saurus nodded and stepped forward. A circle of geometric sigils had been scratched onto the floor. Te'al'k closed her eyes and concentrated, summoning up a composite of human males she'd seen. She pressed her will into Ruq-Gar, felt the magic flow through her arms and out into the world. There were a few gasps and when she felt she could open her eyes again, she gazed upon the form of a human, looking very confused. Ruq-Gar stretched his arms out, stating at them. He started making some uncomfortable noises with his mouth. Some words sounded like Saurian but they were poorly formed.

"So, it occurs that the human mouth is not great at talking our language. And Ruq-Gar here, scholar that he is, does not know the human tongue. Is there anything we can do about this Te'al'k?"

"Hold on! I'm working on something!" the little Skink priest said. Her eyes were closed and she was waving her hands through the air in a way that looked like she was very slowing clearing away cobwebs. A blue glow fizzled on the end of one clawed finger and she brought it close, touching on the human's throat.

"What the hell was that, wait, what am I saying?" Ruq-Gar said, in passable human language.

"Well that's better at least." Itar said, "Can you understand me Ruq-Gar?"

"Yes. It sounds strange though."

"That's good enough for me." The Skink Chief turned back to Te'al'k, "Lets get the rest of us changed."

Ital was next. For him, she cast the form of a gruffer, rougher looking human. While Ital marvelled over the height gain, she moved on to Ka'rah. This time she envisioned a slimmer human with more of the athletic build. Then she moved onto herself, closing reptilian eyes and opening the piercing blue eyes of a tall, well built human with an extremely fashionable haircut.

"Hey, could I get something a bit more, fitting?" Ka'rah started. Te'al'k roller her eyes. She closed here eyes and concentrated. Opening them she saw a slim woman.

"That's better, but could you just-"

"Come on! We've got a tight deadline" Itar said.

###

Ter'an drove them close to the elevators to take them to the market levels. From there they could access ones that would take them to the surface levels. They looked respectable enough not to be challenged by the heavy men with the heavy weapons guarding the elevator lobby for the upper levels.

"Well, by Sotek, it worked." Ital said once they were inside. "How long did you say we had again?"

"The spell should last a few hours at least, maybe three. But it will also break if you do anything excessively… saurian. " Te'al'k replied.

Twenty minutes later and the four of them were walking in a world as alien to them as anything they had seen before. Expensively dressed people walking through the resplendent neon-lit streets. Unfamiliar music and unexpected scents springing from every new establishment they passed. Elysium's Edge was up ahead, across the street. Huge golden neon lights stretched up at least twenty stories on both sides of the building. Holographic displays of dancing women and fine cocktail drinks were projected into the air over it. There was a line in front stretching off around the next block. Two enormous men stood at the entrance. Muscles rippled under their ill-fitting suits, threatening to burst out at any moment. Itar walked directly up to one of them and pulled out his wallet, a credit stick, tucking it into the mans suit jacket. The man pulled it out, saw the number displayed on it and gently pushed it back.

"Me and my friends here", he gestured to the bewildered looking people behind him, "we don't like waiting around. We're important people and you know, time is money." He flashed a knowing smile.

The meat-wall of a man remained immovable, but after a moment he rolled aside and opened the engraved gold door behind him.

"Thank you very much" Itar said, tipping his shades and proceeding in. The others followed.

###

"As Oxyotl once said, when you are closely observing, be sure that you, yourself is not closely observed" Ital said. He then nodded to a man who was taking an interest in their little group. "I think that's Rico, the buyer for the artefact." Te'al'k drummed her fingers on the table nervously.

"The idea was for us to not draw attention…" she muttered. "He's coming right over."

"So, are ya guys new in town or somethin'? Not seen ya around before." He said, taking a sip while looking intensely at Ka'rah.

"Yeah, we're new around here. What of it?" Ital responded, gruffly.

"Are these guys friends of yours?" he asked Ka'rah after briefly smiling at Ital.

"Yeah…" she said, glowering.

"You out?" he gestured down at the empty glass in front of her, " What are ya drinkin'? Let me get you a top-up."

"Maybe I'll be drinking your blood soon, if you carry on" Ka'rah growled.

"Hey, whoa, easy there. I'm just tryin' to be friendly." He downed the rest of his drink. "You know, I like a woman with spice, c'mon. I'll get you something nice. My names Rico by the way"

He held his hand out, looking at Ka'rah. She pretended not to notice, waiting for him to leave. He didn't. "I'm Ka'rah." She offered out her hand and he took it, shaking it gently.

Rico gently let got and then turned to head back to the bar, he looked over his shoulder with a certain cast of expression, beckoning her to follow him.

"Go on, use your feminine wiles to charm him. See of you can get more info about this deal." Ital whispered.

"I'm a saurus warrior, Ital, designed by the great Old Ones for the task of making war, I don't have feminine wiles!" Ka'rah hissed.

"But you read that book right? By that Skink diplomat- "

"It was one passage in one book about self-expression. It wasn't a detailed guide to the social rituals of the warmbloods!"

"Hey, ya, coming toots or am I gonna have to lasso you?" the man called out.

"Get to it, toots." Ital said. Ka'rah, fuming, got up and walked over to the guy.

"Right, Ruq-Gar, you stay here and keep an eye on Ka'rah in case things go sideways. Te'al'k, and I will go and scout out near the entrance. We'll see if they even have the artefact with them before we commit to anything."

"Right, and what happens if it all goes sideways?" Ruq-Gar asked.

"I'll page Ter'an and we'll fight our way out."

###

"-and that's why the call me the boss man now! See, I feel the need, the primal urge to take charge of any situation... "

Ka'rah rolled her eyes, and looked back to the table they had been occupying. Ruq-Gar, was still there but the Chief and Priest vanished. Typical Skinks, always wandering off when they get bored.

"- like tonight for instance. The boss man, the actual boss man, said there was an important delivery coming and I said, don't worry about it. Rico has it all under control. I'll take care of it. I know these are punks we are dealin' with so I posted two of my guys on the roof and have another few out front posing as street scum."

"What about out back?" Ka'rah asked, suddenly now at full attention.

"Oh, well don't worry about that, toots, I thought of everything. I got good ol' Harry the Ham out back in case they try anything funny. Speaking of out back, why don't we go and wait for our guests somewhere a little more comfortable, eh?"

"Oh, no, I can't. I've gotta get back to my friends-"

"Eh, don't worry about it, they can have drinks on the house until we're finished."

"Finished what?"

"Well, first my deal, and after, well we'll see about that."

###

Ruq-Gar, nodding along to the music, zoning out when he was was suddenly aware of a spike in Ka'rah's anxiety. Being a spawn-mate of Ka'rah he shared a very weak psychic connection with her. He saw her get lead away by that guy she was talking to. He got up to follow, pushing his way through people to reach the door they had slipped into.

"Hey, no way man. This is private." said one of the two huge men standing either side of the door.

"That's my friend, she's, uhh-"

"Looks like she scored big tonight, friend. Now why don't you go get yourself another drink. Rico said it's on the house for any friends of hers tonight."

Ruq-Gar fought down the urge to tear the man apart. Ka'rah could absolutely handle herself if anything went wrong. He backed down, took a few breaths and went to go find Ital and Te'al'k.

###

"So how is it that I've never seen you or your friends around here, really, toots?"

The man was fussing with some kind of glassware in a fine, mahogany box. The room he'd taken her into was dimly lit with dark red and black furnishings, accented with silver details. An incense stick burned in a decorated bowl on top of a long dresser against one wall. The top of the dresser was a gun cabinet with an array of unlicensed weapons.

"We're not from around here. Really." she said, slowly wandering around the room.

"Well where are you from? Somewhere exotic, I can tell."

"Some place off-word. Some hot and steamy place…"

"Well maybe we could try and recreate that hot and steamy place later, toots" Rico said, winking and handing her a crystal glass of golden liquid. She could smell the alcohol strongly. The comment passed completely over her head.

There was a knock at the door. Rico set his own glass down on a large desk and walked over to open it.

"Hello boys, ma'am, looks like ya right on time." Rico said exuberantly. He stepped back, picking up his glass and sitting on a large, black leather armchair. Three rough looking street punks entered the room. Ka'rah was immediately on alert. They looked uneasy, they smelled nervous. Each one was dressed more wildly than the next with their hair gelled into a variety of spiky shapes. Bright yellow accents on their outfits united them though as members of one street gang. Rico seemed relaxed as he lit a cigarette and took a long drag.

"Alright, lets see the goods, boys." he said.

"Not until we see the money" the largest of the punks said. Rico sighed.

"Does this look like one of ya back ally dealer locations?" he asked, waving a hand vaguely to indicated the plush room and everything in it. "I'm in the middle of entertaining a guest, lets not mess around. Show me the briefcase."

He stood there for a moment, but, being unnerved by Rico's calmness and the fact there was a woman standing in the corner, waiting. He relented. He took the briefcase from another of the punks and placed it on the huge desk. He swiped the thumb-scanner and opened it up. Even Ka'rah could feel the magic emanating from the briefcase, though she couldn't see in it. Rico stood up and loomed over. The glow reflected off his forehead. Whatever it was, he knew he'd have to move it on quickly before the Enforcers or even the Inquisition came to investigate.

"Yep, that looks genuine enough. I'll give you 12 thousand." he said, taking another long drag on his cigarette. The effect was immediate. The two punks that had come in behind their leader were astonished. Their leader however was outraged.

"Your man promised fifteen at least!" he growled, slamming the briefcase shut.

"With finders fees, handling charges, taxes, export dues, you're lucky you are getting 12. Tell you what, I'll give you boys free drinks and a discount to the VIP area."

"Don't mess me about. We didn't come all this way just for you to shaft me at the last minute!"

"Twelve thou is more than you make in a year's dealing. Take it."

Rico held out a cred stick. This made the punk crack. In an instant he was holding a knife, the concealed blade flipping out from the handle with a quiet metallic sound.

"Either we get fifteen or we are walking out of here." he said with an ugly grin

"Whoa, now hold on Vincent, Vinny, Vin. You are in the lion's den now. If you look at those blocks on the ceiling there, and there. Those are Rayham Industries Mk. VI smart turrets. If my heart rate goes above a certain bpm, they drop down to investigate. And how many of my men did you walk past to get here in the first place? I don't think you saw them all did you?" He took one last drag on his cigarette before stubbing it out in the basalt ashtray on the desk. "Now then boys, take the money, go out and party. Then we can all get back to doing business and making money tomorrow."

Once again there was the hesitation. The situation could go one way or the other.

"C'mon boss, lets just take the money and scram." one of the other punks said. It made sense. Vincent knew it made sense. He put the knife away and snatched the cred stick, scowling and maintaining eye contact with Rico the entire time.

"Lets scram" he said and left the room, followed the other two. The door was closed behind them.

Ka'rah, who knew just how few actual guards there were also gave a sigh of relief as the tension left the room.

"Oooooooo, yeah! Did you see that? Did you see the look on that guys face. Heart rate linked turrets, hah hah! They ate it all up!" Rico laughed. He was striding over to the drinks cabinet to pour himself a generous amount before throwing himself back onto the sofa. "Come here toots, we've got some celebrating to do."

Ka'rah walked over and Rico pulled her down to sit on the sofa.

"So they aren't linked to your heart rate then?" she asked as she was handed a full glass of something.

"They aren't even real turrets! Just some scrap we stuck up there. Do you know just how expensive those would be?"

"But you got your artefact though?"

"Yeah, at a heavy discount. The boss man is going to be happy about that. Or maybe I'll pocket the difference and say we got it for fifteen? Doesn't matter. Come here." Rico threw himself onto her, kissing her messily and grabbing at her. Ka'rah panicked, trying to push him off. When he shoved a hand under her dress she snapped.

The spell broke and she bit hard into his neck with her powerful jaws and razor sharp teeth. She tasted his blood as he gurgled and struggled. She tore a chunk of flesh from him and threw the body to the ground as she stood up. Her dorsal spines had ripped up the sofa and her powerful tail crashed into expensive ornaments, knocking them to the ground. She went to the gun cabinet, tore it open and grabbed a sub-machine gun, then picked up the briefcase. It was time to go. The door slammed open.

###

Ital and Te'al'k returned to Ruq-Gar after seeing the punks leave the club.

"No artefact detected when they left. Its here for sure." Te'al'k said.

"We should probably put the second part of the plan in action. Where's Ka'rah?" Ital asked.

"She went out back with the mark. Hasn't been back since. Tried to get back there but guards stopped me. Didn't want to create a scene and blow cover." Ruq-Gar replied glumly.

Without warning the two main doors to the club were thrown open and Enforcers poured through them. They opened fire on the few guards and bouncers that turned to challenge them, not caring about others getting caught in the crossfire. Chaos suddenly reigned supreme as people screamed and ran in every direction. The air was filled with the sound of gunfire and breaking glass.

The saurians had ducked under the table as it began.

"Alright, new plan," Ital began, "We are heading out back to find that artefact and, hopefully, Ka'rah. Don't worry about cover, we are now grabbing and going. Ruq-Gar, you take point on this. I'll support. Te'al'k, call Ter'an about getting here for an escape."

He took a look out from under the table and saw the Enforcers advancing quickly.

"Alright, move!"

Ruq-Gar ran to the door to the back area. The two guards either side were too busy fighting the Enforcers to notice until he was right on top of them. They turned, raising their weapons and he changed. The hand heading towards one of them now ended in sharp claws. They tore into his face and slammed his head against the wall. Ruq-Gar's massive jaws then closed on the head of the other guard. He pulled and twisted and dropped the limp body in a moment. The massive Saurus then shoulder-barged the door which resisted for a moment before being torn from its frame. The guard on the other side raised his weapons to fire but was gunned down by Ital who had snatched up a weapon from one of the fallen guards. He looked left and right down the corridor, several doors were on each side.

"Which way?"

Ruq-Gar his eyes for a moment, concentrating, then pointed out the passage to the right. The sound of automatic gunfire echoed from around the corner. They ran towards it. On turning the corner they almost ran directly into Ka'rah.

"I've got the artefact. What the hell is going on out there?" she said.

"Enforcers are here. We gotta leave." Ital answered.

"Lets go out the back. Rico said there was only one guard there."

"Which way is 'out back'?" Ruq-Gar asked. Ka'rah pointed behind her, further down the corridor.

They ran, following the exit signs. A firefight had already broken out behind them. Ruq-Gar burst through the door at the end and was confronted by two Enforcers arresting a man. They looked up, momentarily confused. Ital used this moment to charge around Ruq-Gar and launch himself at one of them, his Obsinite blade cutting through their armour and deep into their throat. Ruq-Gar and the other Enforced locked eyes and opened fire but the Saurus was quicker on the trigger. Two rounds hit him but most ricocheted off the building as he went down. The rest of the saurians spread out into the alleyway, taking up defensive positions.

"It's your lucky day" Ka'rah said the the man in the handcuffs, propped against the wall. Though, with a mouth and throat now incompatible with human speech, all the man heard was a set of grunts and clicks.

"Ter'an, where the hell are you?" Ital yelled into the radio, "We're out back of the club."

Te'al'k was tending to Ruk-Gar, wrapping some bandages on tightly to stem the bleeding from his arm.

"Police cordon, just blasted through. Get ready, I'm not going to hang around" Ter'an said over the radio.

"Alright, lets get to the road, our pickup is on the way" Ital yelled.

Within seconds Ter'an's truck screeched to a halt. They threw themselves inside and he speed off. Ital looked up to see half a dozen Enforcer cruisers on them. Then the bullets started flying. Ka'rah aimed out the rear and opened up on one of the cruisers but with Ter'an taking evasive manoeuvres, it was impossible to aim. Te'al'k closed her eyes and started chanting something under her breath.

"Hey, can this thing go any faster? We're getting surrounded here!" Ital yelled.
Ter'an didn't answer, he just concentrated hard on not crashing as he swerved this way and that. Two cruisers were coming alongside the truck, one to cut them off, one to take a shot at the cab.

Te'al'k pressed her hands together as they started to glow.

"Look out!" Ital called as an Enforcer leaned out his window and aimed at Ter'an.

The little Skink priest slammer her hands down on the floor of the truck and a blue light engulfed them.

Ruq-Gar was the first one to spot it but Ka'rah wasn't far behind. The entire world was passing in slow motion.

"Hurry, I can't hold it for long!" Te'al'k cried.

The two Saurus got to business, taking aim and picking off car tyres and Enforcers. Ter'an set himself up for a sudden left turn up ahead.

"I'm losing it!"

Ter'an looked right at the Enforcer aiming at him, looked to his left at the cruiser pulling up on the other side and ducked.

With a snap the world went back to normal and everything happened all at once. The Enforcer aiming at Ter'an let off a few rounds before tumbling from the vehicle. The shots passed through one window and out the other side into the other cruiser. The two cars themselves were careening out of control with burst tyres. The four other cruisers behind almost simultaneously swerved into each other or flipped over and rolled.

The saurians themselves were almost flipped as their truck took a hard turn into an alleyway, smashing through boxes and fences before emerging into another road. They narrowly missed a head on collision, smashed through another fence, dropping several meters and swerving into a giant storm drain and finally taking a side-tunnel that lead back to the hive's underworld.

###

The arrival of their truck was heralded with celebrations. Ital had radioed ahead to make sure they were prepared to offload the artefact somewhere secure. Ka'rah helped Ruq-Gar out and, with Te'al'k, walked him to the medical surgery. Ital held the briefcase up to hisses and roars from the other saurians in the safe-house.

Drinks were handed around along with a few home-made fermentation and songs sung at cross-purposes. They had done it, they had retrieved their first artefact. There were certainly more to go but this was one to celebrate for sure.

Ital pulled himself away from the festivities to head to the communications room. He dialled in the encryption system and scanned for an open channel as he sipped his drink and crunched through a few fried cockroaches. Once the channel was secured he picked up the microphone to make his report.

"This is Ital (strong runner) of the (soteks house) detachment. After a successful mission today we are now in possession of an artefact. It has been stored in our vault and we await instructions for its extraction." He took another sip and swallowed down a writhing worm, "In the meantime we will be planning and executing missions to retrieve additional artefacts."

###

"Did you get all that?" the Sargent asked.

"Yes sir, it appears that their transmission has ended. The decryption can begin."

"Good, the translation is going to take some time however. I think we have enough here to start an investigation. It's not every day that you come across mutants with such consistent mutations and precision of organisations. They are usually sad, shambling things, longing for the Emperors purifying fire. No, I think, Sargent, that we have some as yet unknown type of Xeno scum that has somehow infiltrated the heart of the Emperor's holy domain."

"Xenos? On Necromunda?"

"Yes, its not unheard of. The scum of the lower levels will mix with all kinds of unsavoury creatures. But we cannot perform an exterminatus with that level of precision." The narrow and upright man sighed heavily at the inability to perform selective genocide. "Keep monitoring the channels Sargent"