“I am the law, and the law is justice!“—An ancient motto of the Adeptus Arbites

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While the consequences of this battle previously were reported (link here), the details of the actual fighting are shared below:

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Proctor Merek Kardt whispered into his helmet vox-link, confirming that his squad of Enforcers were positioned correctly and staying out of sight.

Sources available to High Command had warned that a cell of mutant rebels were planning to sabotage the promethium facility where Kardt currently was hiding, and the proctor had arrived hours ago to set up an ambush.

The facility was in the upper levels of the Underhive of Charcharoth, and as with everything in the lower levels of the hive city, centuries of neglect could be seen wherever he looked.  Rust, leak stains, mold—it was astonishing to Kardt that the facility still was functioning.

A warning ping sounded in his vox-link, followed by a report from one of the Enforcers hiding on an overhead gantry.

“Ten men approaching, 20 degrees right of the subsidiary entrance. Weapons visible.”

Looking in that direction, Kardt could see movement in the dim light of the facility. He couldn’t make out any details, but that didn’t matter. If they were carrying weapons, he wouldn’t take any chances.

“Fire on my mark,” he voxed.

* * *

Honored with command of this mission, Galen Crauss was eager to set his explosive charges and strike a blow in the name of the Haruspex, the nigh-holy leader of the mutant rebellion.

Maintenance crews seldom visited this facility unless something was seriously broken, so he expected no challenge to his presence. His men would set their explosive charges, withdraw, and detonate.

The resulting carnage would be remembered for a thousand years.

He was just about to order the men to spread out and do their jobs when gunfire erupted. He heard a scream to his right as a man was hit. Without even waiting for an order, his other men opened fire.

* * *

Enforcer Iago Girrocke, hidden in the shadows, had not opened fire. Two of the mutant scum were running in his direction, and he waited for them to get closer. He always preferred to use his Shock Maul in a fight.

When they were only a meter away, he stepped out from behind a vertical pump and slammed the first mutant square in the face. The mutant dropped without a sound.

The second came up short, shocked by the Enforcer’s sudden appearance, and tried to raise his autopistol. He was too slow. Girrocke kicked him in the groin, then smashed the back of his skull as he bent forward forward in agony from the kick.

A scuttling sounded behind him, and Girrocke spun, raising his maul. But what he saw froze him in place. It was a mutant of hideous disfigurement, with a elongated head, fangs, and four arms that ended in massive claws.

He had just a moment to realize he was too late to respond. The mutant swung a claw at incredible speed, and Girrocke’s severed head bounced away from his falling corpse.

* * *

The ambush was a surprise, but Crauss was a seasoned veteran of the ceaseless battles that plagued the Underhive. Although visibility was limited, he could see that the majority of the enemy gunfire  was coming from ground level to his front and from a higher elevation to his right.

So, it took him only a second to order two men to follow him to the left. Racing amidst the pipes, generators, and storage tanks, he worked his way around the flank of his opponents.

To his right, he saw a Purestrain Genestealer behead an Arbites Enforcer, confirming for him the identify of those firing at his men.  What he needed, he thought, was a distraction that would draw every Enforcer’s attention.

“Go toward the sound of shooting,” Crauss ordered to the Purii (Pure Blood), pointing in the general direction. “Kill!”

The Genestealer snarled, its jaw opening to reveal rows of sharp teeth. Crauss didn’t know whether the Purii understood what he was saying or not, but perhaps his pointing finger and tone of voice was enough to get his wishes across. The Pure Blood of the Star Children scuttled in that direction.

With some relief, Crauss led his men farther to the left. There were several sizable packets of crates there. It would be a good firing position.

* * *

Reinforcements were on the way.  Although communications amidst all the plasteel and plascrete was unreliable in the Underhive, Kardt had managed to contact his precinct house and call for help.

He fired at a mutant using a promethium pump for cover but missed. Slipping back behind a bulkhead, he quickly scanned his defensive line. On a gantry dominating the area, two of his Enforcers were firing down from a very good position. Two others nearby, on his level, were firing carefully, picking their targets deliberately.

All good.

Some instinct made him turn around. About 20 meters away, he made movement behind some packets of crates. Two, maybe three men. He tapped his vox-link.

“Boyle! See those supply crates on your 90 degrees? Bad guys behind it. Give them a warm welcome.”

Hidden in the shadows was Kardt’s ace in the hole: Boyle had a flamer.  Moving forward clumsily, the weight of the fuel tank on his back making for awkward running, Boyle moved up into range. As he did so, a figure behind one crate fired a shot.

Boyle returned fire—with fire.

Flames whooshed across the space between Boyle and the crates, lighting up the entire area and leaving the plastic tarps atop the crates burning.

That should do it, Kardt thought.

* * *

It wasn’t as bad as Crauss had feared. The crates had shielded them from the worst of the flames. One mutant was screaming, but was beating out the flames with his gloved hands. Meanwhile, Crauss and the other mutant were more startled than hurt.

The cult leader didn’t waste any time. He leaned around the corner of one crate, aimed his auto pistol, and downed Boyle with a single shot.

The other mutant also opened fire. Several rounds streamed out of his autogun, and Kardt was struck in the chest.

He went down.

As he scanned the area for another target, Crauss caught sight of the Genestealer. It charged right through the hail of fire put down by the Enforcers and slammed into one of them. There was a scream, and Crauss could see one claw of the Pure Blood rising up and down repeatedly, increasingly coated in blood.

There were no more screams.

* * *

Kardt lay there on the wet, dirty decking of the chamber. He felt numb, although he dimly understood that something hard had hit him the chest.

Over his vox-link, he could hear a growing panic amongst his men. Two more Enforcers were down, and the severely disfigured mutant—the one with the hideous face and four arms—was moving down the line tearing men apart.

He heard someone call the retreat.

He really didn’t understand what was happening. He was tired. If he could just . . . .

—

TheGM: The Enforcers (me) had it won. My deployment was good, and under the rules, my flamer engulfing three mutants—and the two Enforcers on the gantry with a fantastic line of fire—should have slaughtered the mutants on the turn Boyle brought his flamer to bear.

But I rolled a string of 1’s, and in TheGaffer’s subsequent turn, he rolled 6’s. Three of my men went down, and then I failed by Bottle Test (morale check). Played well, but an ignoble defeat.

That’s not the worst of it. The scenario all along was about the mutants blowing up the promethium facility. But, as I imagined it, there were a lot of nearby promethium supply tanks—a massive number.

Then I got the idea that such damage, while not enough to take down a spire, would kill a lot of people. Then it occurred to me that a big enough explosion could cause a chain reaction with any plasma reactors in the area.

So, I rolled a dice. And I rolled a 1. To me, that was kismit. The first explosion actually was the mutant’s way of sabotaging a much more dangerous (and better guarded) plasma reactor of great size.

That gave me the idea of the scope of disaster that was about to befall Charcharoth. A large chunk of the city was going to collapse. That is, it would if the mutants won.

And they did.

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