Tales from the 'Junction

[scottshoemaker]

"I don't like snooping around down here, the firelanes are too tight" thought Arliss. "Stay together, don't advance until I say so" he voxed into the subdermal.  It was a decent crew.  Thank the makers he had Yvette here, he knew she was ready to unsling those pistols of hers. Bram, on the other hand,  too fresh, clean from the uphive. 

What's that smell?

"Yvette, keep these three with you, the rest with me"

Too late did he realize the trap, they had already moved up the corridor.

"Goliaths!" He should have known that particular stink, sweat and stupidity. Small arms fire was punctuated with the blast from the grenade after the whoomp from the firing tube.  Shrapnel punctured his armor, but not too deep. The whine from Hurst's Rad Cannon was barely different from the ringing in his ears, but it was still comforting.  Hurst's shot was beautiful, dropping the uglies pinning down his fire team.  "The rad induced runoff from their arses for the next 10 day will be historic" he yelled to Hurst. 

"Two down!" as Yvette crashed into him, strafing as she went. "I managed to show one of the brutes the working end of my plasma though"

A quick tactical assessment only confirmed his fear.  Boxed in, with fighters down, no firelanes, juiced up muscle-heads closing in.

"Time for plan B, out the vents" he voxed the crew.

Karl, as badly cut up as he was, managed to get to the vent, but Bram was moving too slow.  "They got Bram, should we go back?" asked Yvette.

Taking his crew back into that slaughter for one shiney?

"Frel him" was Arliss' response.

[Josiah]

Freaking excellent man! This is the best battle report format ever, and you've got some dope writing skills. Glad you could make it to the game last night, and I hope that getting called in to work wasn't too big of a headache.

[scottshoemaker]

Arliss was sceptical, but the scummer swore the Hoodlum Kings would be after the smokes machine they found.

"This is stupid" swore Karl over the vox. "No one's coming."

He'll know soon enough, Arliss figured. He's making enough racket on the catwalk to wake a sump-croc. At least Hurst and Kirk were watching him.

With Yvette and the new meat in the side tunnels, Arliss felt exposed, even if Tomas was only 2 metres away.

"Just keep an eye out" hissed Arliss, "you never know.."

The Orlock burst out from the other end of the catwalk, blasting away at Karl as he was bull charging him.

"Gaaah!" yelled Karl, loud enough to be heard without the vox. "Freller opened my leg!"

"Stay down" Arliss yelled back, his movement tracker lit up with what could only be the rest of the 'Kings.

Arliss signaled Kirk, they both should cut off the right flank.  Gunfire erupted from the other side of the cavern.  With bullets and shrapnel bouncing around them both, he saw Yvette drop out from one of the side tunnels.  

"Mine" was all Arliss heard as she unloaded plasma and laser fire at the 'King at the end of the lane.  Soon enough she had the Orlock shuffling around the corner.

"Behind us, by the vend!" Kirk announced over the vox.  Hurst's Rad-Cannon was working overtime, Arliss could hear him cackling with glee everytime he unloaded at the other gang.

The gunfire was erupting all around them, it was only by the Emperor's grace none else was dropped. He and Tomas were putting on speed, trying to get to a spot they could put down some fire when they all heard a mighty "Woohoo!" on the open channel.  "Was that the meat?" Arliss wondered, it couldn't be.

"Boss, I got their fancy terminal! Frelled it up real good! What should I.." was all that Arliss heard from the new kid before the autogun fire drowned out his voice.

"These Hoolum Kings are falling back, can't tell if it's on purpose or not" Hurst comm'd.  I just dropped another one.  Arliss voiced on the band "These guys aren't stupid, could be bugging out, could be a faint.  Kirk let me know they trashed the vend, so no real point sticking around.  Someone grab Karl and the rest of you fade out when you get a chance. Tomas and I will run down this last one."

"He's running off to the side you just came from Boss!" hollered the meat.  The sizzle from his laspistol distorting his voice just enough.

Weaving in and out of the stacks, Arliss and Tomas were running out of breath trying catch the wiley 'King. A few shots were made back and forth, but they lost each other in the section.

"Let's get out of here" Arliss told Tomas. "safer than hanging around"

Damn.  He really wanted to see if any of those vend smokes were any good.

[Josiah]

Scott, this is too awesome. You are crazy good at summing up several rounds of a game in organic and enjoyable prose. This kind of writing is really hard to do. You should submit something next time Black Library posts another contest. They could use you.

[scottshoemaker]

Here's the funny part.  I showed the first one to my daughter (15), she's my nerdling. The kind of kid who pounds down books.  I figured she'd want to be a writer, as she and her friends write fantasy stories for fun (!).  She comes back to me with "solid story, but lots of grammatical errors"

 

Turns out she wants to be an editor.

[Josiah]

Ha ha ha! Everyone's a critic!

[Josiah]

What kind of books does she like to read?