Petrov Karlson, former High Mayor of Port Aruna, has taken up arms as commander of the guerilla group known as Karlson’s Killers.

When last seen, Petrov Karlson, high mayor of Port Aruna on the agri-moon of Dar Sai, was fleeing the city after its fall to Tau invaders.

Unable to reach the evacuation ships in the harbor, Konrad had fled out the east gate of the city—and found himself surrounded by the turmoil of fleeing refugees, peasant-farmers-turned-highway-robbers, and pursuing Tau forces.

Trapped in the vast forests that separated him from Imperial-controlled territory, Konrad decided to seek a hero’s death by taking up arms against the God-Emperor’s enemies. By sheer force of will, he gathered together a force of retreating soldiers, fleeing refugees, and the sturdy lumbermen of the woods.

This force named itself  Karlson’s Killlers, and they launched a guerilla war against the xenos.

Here is a tale of their adventures.—TheGM

A Tau supply convoy works its way down one of the tortuous trails of Dar Sai’s Great Forest. Despite their diligence, they are unaware of the guerillas surrounding them.

Guerilla Ambush, 3 402 743.M41

The ambush site was carefully chosen.

It was a narrow country trail, winding its way through the thick forests that dominate the southeastern region of the Great Continent.

Massive trees soared to the sky on both sides of the dirt path, their canopy of leaves shrouding the ground below in shadow even in the noon sun. Despite the gloom, the edges of the trail were thick with vegetation, providing a perfect hiding place for the 50 armed men that waited in silence.

“How close are they?” Petrov Karlson asked.

Beside him, kneeling in the brush, a grizzled-looking guardsman wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his dirty and torn shirt. “Five hundred meters”

Karlson sighed. It had been easy to ambush the first few convoys working their way down these narrow forest trails. But the xenos weren’t stupid. The convoys were better guarded now, and armored vehicles accompanied each one.

“Are we sure about this? The Tau were ready for us last time.”

The guardsman’s name was Olaf Tanguy. He was officially a corporal but, with the death of Sgt. Deley, Karlson had used his authority as a former high mayor to commission him a lieutenant in the Aruna Home Guard.

Of course, Tanguy knew he was probably listed as a deserter on the rolls of his regiment. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t deserted, just gotten separated from his unit. And Karlson’s authority had ended with the fall of his city. But, as there was no one to dispute their authority, it was good enough for the motley crew of men that fought with them.

“We can do this,” Tanguy said with confidence. “There are only two Devilfish, one at each end of the convoy.”

“Kroot?” Karlson asked.

“Feth, no.” Tanguy spit. “We’d be 20 kilometers from here if they were around. No, I’ve got men hiding in the forest. They watched the convoy go by. But what I really wanted them to do was watch for Kroot shadowing the convoy. We’re okay.”

Konrad and his guerillas launch their attack.

Camaraderie

The former high mayor visibly relaxed. He remembered the Kroot. Soon after the fall of Aruna, Karlson had been in the woods to the east of the city, attempting to rally refugees to fight—to join the guerilla band he wanted to create. He’d recruited 200 men, and they’d had some minor success attacking isolated Tau patrols.

Then, the Kroot had arrived. Although an avian species, they were flightless—but large. Large and muscular. Forest predators who could move silently through the woods.

Karlson remembered the first fight with them. His force was camped deep in the woods, confident they were safe from the Tau, when the Kroot had attacked at night. They were ruthless and bloodthirsty. And the worst of it was that they didn’t give up easily.  The xenos had chased his panicked men, fleeing mindlessly through the forest, until dawn.

In the end, only five men besides Karlson and Tanguy managed to stay alive.

Karlson lifted his arm and sniffed his armpit.

“Can’t get used to the smell, can you?”

Karlson chuckled. “Men bowed as I passed; women flirted to get my attention. I wore the finest clothes in the city.”

“Now look at you,” Tanguy said with a chuckle. “Dirty trousers made of canvas, a dead soldier’s shirt, and stinking of weeks-old sweat and dirt.”

The former high mayor turned to Tanguy with an expression of feigned disapproval. “My current circumstances has given me a different perspective on things.”

A soft whistle made both men stiffen. “It’s time,” Tanguy said.

Karlson offered his hand. “For the Emperor.”

Tanguy took the hand. “For the Emperor.”

A guardsmen uses his plasma gun to take out the engine of the rear Devilfish. A number of guardsmen and PDF troops, lost behind enemy lines after the fall of Aruna, joined forces with Karlson’s guerilla group.

A trap sprung

The sound of an engine drifted their way. and, after a few seconds, the first vehicle appeared around the bend.

It was a Devilfish.

The armored transport eased its way down the dirt path, its engine vents scraping against the vegetation that crowded the trail’s edges.

As it passed by Karlson’s position, there was an explosion. Shaped charges, pilfered from an old battlefield, , had been strapped around a huge myphalia tree, and their detonation snapped the meter-in-diameter trunk in half. The tree collapsed, its massive trunk falling to block the road.

The ground shook as the tree hit the ground, the impact sending tremors through Karlson’s feet and, although the Devilfish was hovering, its grav repulsors still reacted to the ground’s movement. The vehicle skewed to the right before it braked to a half.

“Fire,” Tanguy screamed, shooting round after round at the Devilfish’s rear passenger hatch. Other men also were firing at it—sufficient firepower to deter the xenos inside from attempting to disembark.

To the left, other men were firing at the cargo haulers. The body of these civilian transports were solid plasteel, but the drivers’ compartment featured large windows for maximum driver visibility. The windows quickly shattered under fire, and the lasgun rounds that followed made mincemeat of the drivers—humans who were pressed into service but still died as traitors.

A side hatch on the Devilfish dropped. The xenos were going to make a dash for it. But the first two Fire Warriors to appear were cut down as they appeared, and the hatch quickly closed again.

A whistle hung from Karlson’s throat, and he put it to his lips. “Fweeeet! Fweeeet!

That was the signal. As the Devilfish’s burst cannon fired a long volley into the woods to the right, a partisan appeared to the left of the xeno transport. He was carrying a satchel, and he raced up to the vehicle’s left intake vent and stuffed the satchel inside. Then he fled.

Eight seconds later, the satchel exploded. The left engine of the Devilish erupted in flame, and the vehicle sank quickly to the ground, its remaining grav plate unable to hold up the weight of the armored vehicle.

Downed, the vehicle’s burst cannon was buried in the dirt, and the ship was defenseless.

Their transport aflame, Tau Fire Warriors disembark to face death at the hands of Karlson’s Killers.

Post-battle reflections

“They fought bravely,” Karlson said.

He and Tanguy stood amidst the xeno corpses. In the back of the column, the guerillas had been equally successful in bringing down the second Devilfish. The Fire Warriors in both vehicles, recognizing their doom, had disembarked and made a suicidal charge at their attackers.

They’d died quickly. One one of Karlson’s men had died, although two more were wounded.

“For the Greater Good, eh?”Tanguy muttered.

“Are we any different?” Karlson asked. “How many of us have willingly given our lives in service of the Emperor?”

“Don’t let a commissar hear you talk like that,” the guardsman joked.

“I don’t see any around,” Karlson replied. “Besides, just because I acknowledge the xenos’ courage doesn’t mean I won’t kill every last one of them.”

He lifted the whistle to his lips and blew two long tweets—the signal to loot the vehicles and gather anything of value. The xenos were the main source of supply for the guerillas.

Unfortunately, two civilian drivers—a middle-aged man and a teenage girl—were found alive in the civilian vehicles. Both swore they’d been forced to serve the xenos.

“You chose servitude over loyalty to the God-Emperor, ” Karlson told them. “But death still finds you.”

After their executions, Tanguy looked at Karlson with a melancholy expression.

“Was that necessary? They were just frightened.”

Karlson was silent for a moment. When he spoke, there was a catch to his voice.

“I didn’t want to execute them. But I know my duty. “

The two men watched the guerillas loot the vehicles, packing the most valuable pickings into their backpacks.

“Let me guess,” Tanguy said finally. “Now we plant explosive traps.”

Karlson nodded. “You’re not in the Imperial Guard now.  We don’t have an entire regiment to take the fight to the enemy. We kill Tau one at a time. We kill them any way we can. Set the traps. Poison the water canisters. Put feces on any jagged edges.”

Tanyun saluted. “Hell of a way to fight a war.”

“Hurry it up, lieutenant,” Karlson said. “We’re heading north. The xenos have set up a communications array in a clearing about 30 kilometers from here. That seems like a good place to cause mischief.”

—

The Corvus Cluster is a Warhammer 40K blog documenting our gaming adventures in the fantastical sci-fi universe of Games Workshop.