The Wolves

From the Log of Sgt. Hannibal of the A Team:

It was a good morning, we had just arrived at the location of the [ Communique Redacted; Security Order 57974] .  As we began to spread out to explore the terrain the sounds of birds songs and a light breeze changed quickly to silence.  I noticed several birds leaving the area and a number of others returning to their nests quietly, this behavior is to quiet the young, and protect them.  Then the wind shifted, the sweet smell of morning dew over this place was replaced by the exhaust fumes of a vehicle that was not built particularly well, a certain sign that the Ork was on it’s way.  As the sound of leaky hydraulics clunking rusty iron slowly forward made its’ way towards us we took up positions and steeled ourselves for the oncoming storm.  B.A. took off on his Thunderwolf, Zyla, to take a wide sweep and outflank our witless, but well stocked, opponent.  The rest of us set up nearer to each other, knowing that to divide our forces against this foe, was to throw ourselves into a meat grinder.

As they approached and came into view, their leader, or at least biggest one, could be seen smashing a button and looking up towards the sky repeatedly; what this meant wouldn’t become clear until later on.  Gathering my focus I called to the sky to rain it’s fury upon that piss poor excuse for a dreadnought.  The sky had barely finished sharing her light show with us before the machine exploded in a blaze of awful craftsmanship.  A few of the smaller Ork were knocked over by the blast but unfortunately nobody died… I had a good laugh either way.

As they approached us Van was able to blast their… sniper? to the point of incapacitation, and the rest of us managed to take a few small goblinesque creatures to the ground.  A volley of fire ensued and Van had to evacuate, then it was Colonel Sanders leaving the battlefield.  I wasn’t sure that he needed to, but at the time he left he seemed rather scared… not badly injured… just… space chicken.

Murdock, B.A., and Bluto charged headlong into the fray, though the cowards attempted to keep B.A. occupied with one opponent at a time, but it was only a matter of time before he arrived to support Murdock in his combat.  Murdock… that crazy son of a bitch locked himself up with their leader and every smallish green bastard that could get their hands on him.  I’d swear I watched him slaughter at least three of them in a single go on three separate occasions… I guess that chainfist we bought him is paying dividends early.

Bluto fought valiantly but ultimately was overtaken by the superior numbers that surrounded him, he was fine after the battle, but we had to peel him from the canvas of the earth as the dust settled.  He mumbled something about needing Olive Oil and promptly passed out as I treated his wounds later.

At one point, their leader smashed that button and looked to the sky again, this time with a smile.  So it was that I too, looked towards the heavens.  What happened next was nothing short of insanity, a beam of light crashed down to the earth not but fifteen feet to the east of my position.  The impact with which it struck and the crater left behind were beyond impressive.  I can only imagine what would have happened if that had landed on me… and none of it is good.  I’m not sure what I’m more impressed by, the fact that the Ork managed to take hold of an old orbital satellite relay… or that they managed to use it successfully.  Those fools over at the Imperium need to child proof technology like that… I mean… fuuuuck.

As that large green moron stared happily at the sky, Murdock took advantage of his opening.  Ripping his chainfist through the poorly constructed terminator armor and into the heart of the beast.  If that miniature puke in the scrubs hadn’t dragged him off of the battlefield I can assure you that he would not stand this day… But c’est la vie I guess.

As the battle raged on B.A. got knocked off his wolf and onto his face… the wolf didn’t seem to be in great shape either and I was pretty sure that they were both going to bed worm food in short order.  But Murdock… goddamned Murdock. I have to point out that never in my life have I had the honor of working with a man who  seemed so truly as though he meant to kill himself with such ferocity…  They had been fighting side by side, when B.A. went down… Murdock went into a frenzy, standing in front of his comrade he tore into every boy he could get his hands on.  Possibly even a few that he couldn’t… I don’t know.. dude is nuts.  B.A. managed to stand up and defend himself as one large skirmish turned into two smaller ones.  By the time B.A. was swinging again this fight was largely over.  I rushed to my comrades aid when I ran out of targets to roast from the heavens, but by the time I got there it was over.  My arrival was greeted by B.A. smiling and laughing as he ran down the last four or five greenskins and put them to the dirt.  In large numbers they truly can be a menace.  But when it comes to a man… Nobody fights like a wolf.

The situation on the planet grows more intense with each passing day, I can’t tell if the increased aggressiveness of all our foes is natural in it’s origin, or if it has something to do with Dark Angel Scum Cypher.  The people of this planet are desperate for care and protection, Necrons are waking up, tyranids are still present and growing in number, and our enemies grow bolder as time passes.  Apparently the situation on this planet has gotten popular enough that the chapter has taken notice of the situation, Arjac Rockfist has been sent here to inspect our operation, his report will surely either bring us laudation from Logan Grimnar himself; or a stern reprimand.  This is particularly exciting for me, as one of the reasons we took this operation in the first place was that no one else felt it “carried any significance”, furthermore, that proof was lacking that this planet was worth protecting; when there are still planets along the edge of the eye of terror that require our eternal attention.  With the arrival of Cypher, and the definite presence of Necrons, It seems my instinct to volunteer my force for this mission was well heard.  A chance to out do the Dark Angels at their own eternal game of “chase Cypher around the universe” would be a great honor to myself, and to the chapter itself.  If all goes well we may finally be respected as Wolves, the time will come when they will understand that the men of Fenris’ summer belt are twice as fierce as those frozen twits who toil all their lives in ice.  We have come to wear the chapter wide pejorative term “Coyote” as a badge of honor rather than an insult.  Coyotes are much more cunning than wolves, and are given to hunt in packs in much more sophisticated manners than any pack of wolves will truly ever truly know.

The past few months have brought many battles, and much wealth.  I am proud to say not a single one of my men has fallen, not even a canine.  We did suffer one defeat, though I feel had Murdock and B.A. stayed on to finish the Grey Knight menace, they could have, but they felt a strategic withdrawal was necessary due to the volume of work we had to continue to do.  I will not argue with them as I was not present on the field when the decision was made.  It was still a rather fruitful mission as they managed to take a knight hostage on their way out.  The ransom we were paid was well received, we garnered a great deal of it in that month alone.   Much of our previous wealth has been spent securing and protecting as much of the planet as possible.  It was finally time to buy toys, and it seems to have paid off quite nicely.  After taking in the refugees, a hotshot from the GPD who calls himself “Johnny Football”, said that if we paid to equip him he would fight for free.  He has vowed to bring home his enslaved brethren or die trying.  He speaks at great length about the importance of his vengeance, and while he has yet to show his ferocity in battle, his intimate knowledge of the planet has provided us a useful strategic advantage when meeting our foe on the battlefield.  I will keep watching him, he has the traits of a great leader, he needs only to humble himself and learn to listen.

Our most recent encounters with the Ork have been very fruitful.  As dangerous as they seem, their lack of understanding of stratagems makes them a foe handily dealt with.  We were moving on a mass teleport facility when we received an alarm from one of our medical facilities that an Ork raid had begun.  Moving back towards our facility in haste we made it onto the grounds in time to meet our foes on our own terms.  The facility has four control points and we needed only protect them from the Ork.  This proved easy and was over relatively quickly.  We started in control of one, B.A. and his thunder-wolf were enough to chase them from one position, Face snuck over to take another unnoticed, and Murdock managed to run their boss off of the last position.  Even the Ork knew there was not a strategic possibility of victory for them at that point and they left in a hurry at the at point.  Murdock taunted and prodded their boss, begging for a duel, had he (is it a he?) stood and fought they could have held that objective and continued their fight.  But his cowardice was rewarded with failure, the boyz (I guess they are “he”) that ran from B.A. could has easily held him up for strategic purposes, but once again their cowardice was rewarded with failure.  An easily taken prize is still a prize indeed.  I wish every fight was this simple.

We held the medical facility for a period of time that allowed us certainty that the Ork would not return this day.  But, we soon grew worried that they were setting up on the mass teleport facility that we had marked as our current objective, all of us ran as quickly as we could to get the facility.  This ended up splitting our force in half and putting us in very bad position.  The Ork arrived later than we had expected, and we knew that with only half our force present any casualties could mean losing the battle.  Our more veteran warriors traveled ahead, their seasoned stamina pushing them far beyond the limits of our new recruits, and even our canine companions.  As we arrived in the center of the location we realized we had gotten there much earlier than our foe, and now were exposed to a potential ambush from all sides.  The Ork however… and thank Morkai it was the Ork, squandered their opportunity of a multi-directional assault and all arrived together in one massive pile that was pleading for kiss of death to touch their sweet lips.  Had they chosen to attack from all sides they surely would have taken all of our late arriving soldiers with little effort.  Also, we would not have been able to focus our fire on their priority targets nearly as effectively.  Again the Ork’s lack of strategic understanding would cost them this battle.  As the rest of our force arrived some wolves laid in wait behind an old silo, and our newest recruits Johnny and a Grey Hunter who has yet to earn his namesake within our group waited on the edge.  They were there to provide support if needed but mostly to watch a learn from this old dog as to how one causes Orks to kick rocks.

With any luck, Arjac will see fit to send us enough resources so that we can finish this job quickly and return heroes.  But such fantasy is rarely fulfilled.