Tuesday 24 January 2012

Rogue Trader One-on-One: Part Six: Peace Through Superior Firepower

As the Captain scanned and analysied the now Ork-infested planet, she had a plan brewing at the back of her mind.

She commanded her Tech-Priests to alter the armour of her personal guard, adding spikes, stripes, and generally "Orkifications". The same was done with her personal Power Armour - somewhat reluctantly, it has to be said, with the Tech-Priests ensuring that all of the near-heretical modifications to the sacred Template be easily removeable.

Speaking to the crew, she found those who had experience with Orks - including Corbec. She asked for as much information as she could get, and even studied the Ork language (or at least the rudiments thereof) to help communicate with the Orks. She picked her biggest men, and equipped them with the deadliest, most impractical weapons she could find.

Then, with a little technical jiggery-pokerey, the Tech-Priests sent a message to whatever crude radio recievers the Orks might have had, asking them to get to a point she would mark with "Great Dakka", by sunrise the next day, and shelled the crap out of an area near a valley.

As the dust settled on the fresh macrocannon craters, Orks were already making there way, from across the entire continent, or so it seemed. By sunrise, the crater, and most of the surrounding area (equivalent to a small city) was a sea of green. Orks filled every open space, howling, fighting, drinking, and occasionally doing all three at the same time (it's amazing how well an Ork can balance his drink while jumping on someone's head).

She descended on her shuttle, and was amazed at how easily Yacob managed to dodge the various shells and armaments fired indiscriminately into the air. As they unloaded, her men began performing what can best be described as the "Imperial Hakka", dancing, shouting, screaming, and firing weapons in the air to gain the attention of the assorted Orks. Most continued what they were doing, but some turned to view the odd spectacle.

Claudia began announcing her presence, and her request - to bring them a good fight. Not with her, of course, but with a mutual enemy. A certain 'Umie in red power armour... she had prepared a large canvas, painted with the likeness of Captain Krawkin, and described how heavily-armed his cruiser was.

As she spoke, she felt a tingling sensation at the nape of her neck. Tiny bolts of red lightning jumped from her armour, spike to spike, and as the tingling built, she started to feel them running between her teeth...

In a flash of red light, a figure appeared before her. At least nine feet in height, with armour and ornamentaiton taking him above that, stood an Ork, easily the largest one there. His face was coated in light-green scars, and one of his eyes (and a chunk of his skull) were replaced with crude augmetics. With a simple grunt of "WOT D'YOU WANT?", in heavily accented Low Gothic, she was introduced to Warboss Kragza. The sheer fact that he seemed to know enough Low Gothic to hold even a simple conversation was enough to set the Lord-Captain on edge - and to remind her that while Orks were simple, they weren't stupid.

She explained her situation, and made a show of being the biggest and strongest of her men (the power armour helped, as did the lifts installed in her shoes). Though a combination of wits, charm and intimidation, she managed to win the Warboss over - in exchange for some of the ship's weapons, they would fight Krawkin and his men when the arrived.

And they would - Claudia had set two extra teams to the other side of the planet, to enact two different plans. The first was a crack team led by Corbec and his men - to extract the Eldar relic from its place of burial (several dozen feet underground). While they dug, they had to fend off Ork war parties, a few light vehicles, and what appeared to be a second Warboss, from another tribe. All were easily despatched, through a combination of tactics, sharpshooting, and heavy macrocannon shelling.

The second team had taken several items - a vox, set to brodcast as one of the Vegas's shuttles, a lump of the psychoactive coral, and a few stray scraps of wraithbone - if Krawkin's psyker was as powerful as he seemed, he'd find the bait no bother. Attached was a short video clip of the Captain, explaining that they were long gone, no doubt rich beyond his wildest dreams, and that the Greenskin cavalry would arrive shortly, followed by several rude gestures.

Once negotiations were settled, however, the Auspex teams and the Astropaths began reporting strange readings around the captain - she turned just in time to see a new player enter the field - a team of mysterious figures, dressed in ornate armour (which she immediately guessed as being Eldar in origin), tearing their way through reality itself, teleporting their way across the battlefield in short jumps, leaving a trail of destruction wherever they went.

The Orks had went at least half an hour with no more than a brief punch-up, and were more than happy to get themselves stuck in to the new opponents. But they moved too quickly to be easily despatched - dissapearing, only to reappear momentarily a fet dozen feet away, light, ornate blades ready to cleave through flesh with little apparent effort. Some unleashed even greater armament - a launcher, attached to their waist (and seemingly under mental control), which unleashed a shimmering cloud that reduced men and Orks to a fine red mist in seconds. Closer inspection led Claudia to believe it to be monowire - molecularly thin and razor sharp. As she bolted to the shuttles, entorage in tow, she was face with one of the Eldar as he appear but a few feet in front of her, and unleashed a spool of monowire in her direction - but quick reflexes and heavy armour saved her from dismemberment. A single bolt shell from Jayne, the Lord-Captian's Security Officer and personal bodyguard, forced the Eldar to teleport once again, allowing Claudia safe egress onto the shuttle.

It was only once she rested that she realised she hadn't fully escaped the wire - the bottom half of her left ear had been removed, leaving an almost perfectly cauterised wound behind.

Warp Spiders are a shamefully underused bit of Eldar fluff - shameful, becasue they're awesome. Darting through the Warp, unprotected, to strike at an enemy when the least expect... badass.

The ambush was to put the willies up Claudia's player, and to show her that the Eldar knew she was after their relics. The injury was to remind her that she wasn't invincible (she had avoided most combats till now, using her men and keeping a safe distance at all times). The little shock seems to have worked - she's been a lot more careful in the last few sessions, and is still paranoid about Krawkin now she knows I'm out for blood...

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