Augustin IV, fight!

[Lord Jacobus]

(This is for some quick general roleplaying, dont be surprised if your guy dies

The first setting is the snowy hell off Augustin IV, you are the men and women manning the trench defences, The regiment is Valhallen, post your character in the ooc thread and then jump in)

Sergeant Vladamier tugged his scarf tighter to his face, clutching his batterd old lasgun to his chest. he peeked over the edge of the parapet. Straining to see through the heavy snowfall.
"God emperor this place is almost as good as home" He remarked to the trooper next to him "Its a shame the damned traitor basterds dont show their face. Id love to introduce them to my chainsword I would." He smiled, causing his scarf to shift off his face slightly. He reached up and readjusted it back onto his face.

[The Emperor's Penguin]

"God emperor this place is almost as good as home"

Authan grinned even wider than usual at his Sergeant's comment and laughed dutifully, only partly force, and sighed wistfully as the wind blew a refreshing flurry of snow into his face. Not even bothering to wipe it off he looked over the parapet of the trench, his feet as sure footed on the icy firing step as any Valhallan would be. The white-out would have crippled the visibility of any other regiment but they were doing fine, and the enemy were being very rude by not putting an appearance.

"It could be worse," he said, grinning at the Sergeant, "We could be somewhere warm."

[Lord Jacobus]

"It could be worse, We could be somewhere warm."

Vladamier chuckled, the young lads optimism never seemed to dour. A sudden gust of wind blew a diminished wave of snow into the trench. 'Must be letting up' he thought, somewhat disapointedly, to himeself. He looked around the trench slowly. There was only a few men on duty at this late hour. The rest would be down in the dugouts, relaxing and eating. Mind you, he would much rather be outside in the cold. The last world they wer posted to was decidedly way to warm for any of their likings. He looked out over the parapet again, enjoying the feel of the ice cold wind on his protected face. He slowly looked from right to left.

" Looks like noone has come to play, I must admit, im slightly miffed... Wish we were fighting orks.... at least they come out to play all the time" He chuckled again and took one last cursery glance. "yup.. still no.... Wait" His hand gripped the parapet. He thought hed seen movement. "Nishka... I require your thermal optics" He spoke quietly into his vox bead.

[Shiva]

The blowing snow brought a content sigh from Alora as she slipped back into the trench from the nearest dugout. Her copper eyes flashed from side to side, taking in the other troopers on patrol. Things seemed quiet, but for a few troopers in simple converstation, which made her a little anxious. I don't like this... she thought with a scowl, her left hand slipping down toward the laspistol on her hip. This feels like the quiet before all hell breakes loose. For a moment she simply listened to the wind, her ears straining for the slighest sound. But after a moment of hearing nothing but the howling wind and the whisper of other soldiers, she shook her head to clear her thoughts. Flipping her braided hair over her shoulder so she could lift her fir-rimmed hood, she slipped over by the two soldiers speaking quietly and took up a spot beside them, smiling softly and giving them a brief nod, but saying nothing.

[Lord Jacobus]

He noded in acknowledgment to the medic as she slipped up beside them. The wind was starting to lesson now as well. The storm would be breaking soon he thought somewhat disapointedly. This had been the first real good storm this planet had shown them in the scant few weeks theyd been here. He looked out over the parapet, straining his eyes to figure out if anything was out there.

"Here you are sarge" said another valhallan as he moved up the trench, handing Vladamier a pair of optics. Vladamier took them and pulled down his scarf, revealing a large moustahe of the handlebar variety. He softly scratched his chin before pulling his snow goggles down and raising the optics to his eyes.

"No problem comrade sergeant" He said softly, raising his long las up and giving it a cursery inspection. He wiped a speck of dust off the scope before sitting down on the fireing step. He pulled a small flask out of his coat and took a swig from it before offering it to the two younger troopers. "Tell me sarge... how long has it been? twenty.... thirty years since we left Terrax prime?"

"36 years and two months old comrade..." He spoke grimly and scanned the edge of the park with the optics. Nothing looked out of the ordinary, no sudden heat blooms. Nothing but bueatiful cold snow, empty buildings across the street. He lowerd the optics and scratched at his chin again, puzzled. ' I coulda sworn I saw movement...'

"How longs it been for you two newmeats?" chucckled Nishka at the two younger guardsmen.

[Shiva]

Alora smiled politely but held up a hand, passing on the offered drink. Instead she silently scanned the horizon line the Sergeant seemed focused on, her copper eyes flashing like little orange flames. She saw nothing, but couldn't shake the feeling of uneasiness that sent a shiver down her spine.

"How longs it been for you two newmeats?"

The comment from the lance copreal drew Alora's eyes sharply to his. Arching one of her thin, snowy white eyebrows she hissed through a forced smile, "With all do respect sir....I'm not a newmeat." Her smile faded and her eyes flashed. "I grew up in weather worse than this and have been serving the Emperor for almost 10 years." She paused, glancing briefly to the horizon, then returned her attention to him, her eyes like smoldering embers now. "I may not have the time or experience you have, but what time I have given The Emperor is still worthy of respect."

With that, she turned her attention fully back to the snowy horizon, her eyes still trying to pick out the source of the sick feeling in her gut.

[Lord Jacobus]

"now now youngling" Nishka said, slightly suprised. "I meant no disrespect, your new to this reiment though, which makes you newmeat" He looked over at the sergeant. "As to weather... noones had it worse then the sarge here... Why dont ya tell our young comrades about your trip through the frozen tundra of sibreia." He mentioned the name of their planets most hazerdous polar region with a careful tone in his voice. Vladamiers back stiffend slightly at the name.

[The Emperor's Penguin]

Authan gladly took a swig of the warm brew that the veteran Guardsman and the Sergeant's friend had offered him. He could feel it heating him all the way down from his mouth to the core and loosened his scarf a little. The Sergeant was right about the storm letting up, the wind was already driving less flurries of snow towards them and in lower amounts. As a result it was also slightly warmer in a way only an iceworlder could truly tell.

"How longs it been for you two newmeats?"

He threw a grin at Nishka and made an over the top show of concentrating and counting on his fingers, completely at odds with Alora's indignant response. And of course that was whole point. The enemy weren't shooting at them yet and the commissars weren't about so they might aswell lighten up a bit.
"Let me see..." he said, "It's probably been six whole years since I dragged my sorry self into the recruiting station back home."

[Shiva]

Sighing heavily as she turned her eyes from the horizon, Alora couldn't keep a small, curious smile from crossing her lips as she watched Authan counting his years of service on his fingers. It was the first time in a very long time she could remember seeing such light-hearted humor in the trenches. Perhaps I should try and relax a bit, she thought as she listened to Authan give his answer. No reason to be so on-edge....for the moment anyway.

Turning to Vladamier, her eyes flickered with curiosity as she asked, "Sir, if I may...what mission took you to Sibreia? That is indeed a difficult area to navagate, let alone survive in."

[Lord Jacobus]

He lowered the optics, not quite satisfied, but he hadn’t seen anything. He stepped to the other side of the trench and slowly sat down on a crate. Resting his lasgun to his right, against the wall he looked up at the three of them.

"well..." He said, his eyes starting to look off into the middle distance, as most are want to do when remembering. "It was a long time ago... almost thirty some odd years. A group of deserters, some Prussian grenadiers from a resupling regiment, had kidnapped a few of the younger members of our town and retreated to the surface. So, I took my fathers lascarbine and old guard coat and went off with a band to find them. we tracked them for three days, finding five frozen bodies on the way there, two of our lost ones, three of the renegades. When the leader of our posse figured out where they were heading, he decided it wasn’t worth it." He paused long enough to take a swig of Nishka's flask. Enjoying the warm harshness of it flooding down his throat.

"That’s good comrade, better save some of that for our trip home." He chuckled to himself and rubbed a gloved hand across his mouth. He reached into his coat and pulled out an old battered pipe, carved on one side with the intricate symbol of the regiment, 578th Valhallan Infantry, and a symbol that looked to be a family crest on the other. He started to fill it as he continued speaking. "I, of course being young and brash at the time, was having none of this. After a lengthy argument with my uncle I persuaded him to let me travel on alone. So I set off with a sack full of supplies and a grim hatred forming in my gut. It took me almost a week of stumbling around that frozen hell blasted wasteland. Fending off a Vornskyr (like a arctic wolf... only bigger, far Far more dangerous) even" He tapped his chest, knocking on the tooth he hung around his neck. Many of the regiment wondered where he got it.

"So I found them, almost by accident. I was searching for a cave to ride out the meanest looking storm I had ever seen. While I franticly searched, I noticed the smell of smoke on the wind. The gecking bastards had somehow managed to light a fire and were boiling snow down into water for some despicable purpose im sure because at that time they were out of supplies. So I gripped my fathers rifle, and rushed in, took the first basterd in the back of the head before they even realized I was there. My next shot found the neck of the second man as he reached for his pistol, knocking him back as he clutched at his neck...." He paused to take a puff on his pipe, enjoying the taste of the finally cured tabac.

"Nishka here... he was one of the ones they took, he had managed to free his bindings and leapt for the dieing mans gun. I, of course... merely continued shooting, cutting the next man down with two shots to the gut. That left about three of them left. They had regained their senses and two of them were rushing me as the third tried to lined up a shot. If It weren’t for Nishka here... I would have died, He took the one in the head with a single pistol shot. I shot another in the knee cap before the last got close enough to lunge at me with the but of his rifle. He swung hard and I tried to block it with my left arm, it shattered, of course. The man was twice as big as me. I jabbed up with the las rifle in my hand and hit his neck with the barrel, stunning him long enough for Nishka to shoot him in the back."

"And I have been stuck with him Ever since, even with the basterds arm shattered, he still lead us all home. After he got out of the medicae we all decided to join up... Blasted officers heard about what he did and fast tracked him up the ranks, not that im gonna complain. Zaitsev Vladimier is one of the toughest and best Valhallan sergeants to ever come out of Terrax Prime Hive" Chuckled Nishka as he took another swig from his flask.

Vladamier grinned broadly "Don’t none of you young 'uns be taking any ideas from old comrade Nishka here, he’s deluded himself into thinking that Iv been keeping his scrawny ass around and alive as long as I have because he thinks I like him, But its really because he owes me a considerable sum of money. He’s a damn horrible gambler" They both laughed loudly, revelling in the moment of old memories

[The Emperor's Penguin]

Authan listened intently to the two grizzled veterans go over the time when they first met each other. He always enjoyed listening to old war stories, and Emperor knows that's why he had signed up; he'd grown up listening to the tales of courage and mighty deeds done in service to the Imperium which his grandfather had told him. When such stories came from the mouth of an active soldier they always had some slight exaggeration but held valuable tips for those who listened well.

[Shiva]

"You are a very brave man," Alora said softly as Vladamier finished his story and the two men shared a laugh. "The Emperor has indeed blessed you with great courage and determination." She paused, her eyes scanning his face, clearly impressed. "I'm honored to serve with you both...." she paused, a small smile brushing her lips, "....even if we are only newmeat." Her attempt at humor brought a soft, rosy color to her cheeks - she wasn't used to joking with others and attempting to do so made her feel slightly akward. She dropped her head, her eyes smoldering slightly as she began double-checking the contents of her medical pack.

[Lord Jacobus]

"I'm honored to serve with you both...."
Vladamier smiled and took a long deep draw from his pipe. "Ah well.... Im alot older then I was back then. Feels like an age ago that does. Iv seen all manner of things since then..." He Heard a scuffling sound from the lip of the trench as a shambelling figure stepped up and leapt at him. Its rotting arms and fingers streatched at him like claws. Vladamier jumped out of the way in suprise, grasping for his lasgun as the figure slamed into the trench wall. It slowly started to rise to its feet, it was once a human, probebly a pilgrim. But its clothing was falling apart, ragged and torn, and its body was rotting like it had been dead for weeks. Its sunken eyes were a sickly vomit colour as it let loose an inhuman screach. Nishka stepped up and shot it in the stomach three times with his autopistol. Cutting its scream short as it fell limp, looking for all its worth, like a month old corpse. Black Viscous fluids, with straitions of bright green, slowly leaked out of its body before freazing.

"What in all that is holy..." Nishka utterd before poking at it with his boot toe.

[The Emperor's Penguin]

"Emperor's teeth!" Authan exclaimed as the corpse-thing leapt at his sergeant, causing abrupt surprise at its sudden appearance in the trench. Luckily Vladamier had managed to get out the way and, seeming to lack much control over its motor functions, the thing hit the wall of the trench. He joined the others in staring at the thing in horror before it started screeching at them, he raised his lasgun to silence it but Nishka was quicker.

"Do... Do 'all manner of things' include them, Sarge...?" Authan said, trying desperately to extract some levity from the situation.

[Shiva]

Alora was on her feet instantly, twin laspistols drawn and targeted in on the fallen creature. Her eyes narrowed in disgust as she watched Nishka step forward and nudge the fallen corpse with his boot.
"Sir!" she cried, stepping forward quickly and keeping both pistols aimed at the creature's head, "please, keep your distance!" Without waiting for him to respond, she loosed a shot from her pistol through one of the corpses sunken eye sockets, sending more icarus fluid onto the frozen ground.
Holstering her pistols as she stepped beside him, her voice was respectfully apologetic as she said quietly," Forgive me sir, but if this is what I think it is, these monsters aren't so easy to kill." She knelt beside the corpse, looking over the rotten skin and putrid fluids leaking from it's wounds but being careful not to touch it. After a few quiet moments she stood with a heavy sigh and lifted her smoldering eyes to Nishka, "It looks like the plague....highly contagious and medically incurable." She nodded to the corpse with a disgusted scowl. "Without causing massive trauma to the brain or severing the spinal column, these abominations can remain mobile - "alive" if you will - spreading their infection and disease to any living creature, man or beast." She frowned, glancing from Nishka to Vladamier, her words as cold as the icy landscape around them. "They're like cockroaches....where there's one, there's bound to be dozens more."