Dog Belly Dreams

Assault after Dark

Somehow the enemy had detected them. Visibility was minimal. The atmosphere was still clogged with particulate debris from the bombardment plus smoke from fires within ruined structures. In addition night had fallen. Alfus could barely make out Athelwist's rump 10 spans forward as he lay amidst the debris born of the orbital bombardment. Athelwist was watching the enemy positions. His signals indicated that 3 of the armoured suits were active in the remains of the buildings ahead. Other suits lay inert. Alfus itched to go and examine them but this was not the time. The Gann had put him in charge of the squad and the eight of them were relying on his tactical skills and adherence to orders to see them through.
The three active suits seem to be assembling some type of weapon which pointed in their direction. Alfus hoped the Gann would not wait much longer before signalling the attack. The Belismar boys were to flush out any enemy from the ruins of the defense complex. Given that this site had been of the focuses of the bombardment the fact that masonry still stood at the bottom of the 3000 span crater showed that the building had been built as a strong point. The above ground structure had been blasted off during the bombardment but the beneath ground layers exposed by the destruction above were designed to take over the defense.
Blur 100% the signal came to Alfus' squad. As the blur switched in everything slowed but at the same moment time slipped. One second Alfus and his mates were switching the mixture. The next they were amongst the enemy suits firing, stabbing and clubbing at the slowly dropping and twitching figures.

An unexpected helper

"I know that you are from off planet," the flamboyant man continued. "You qualify as an Unreal even if you do not know how to behave as one."

Hammerhand stepped close to Mr Zakalwe Iridescent. His right hand slipped up his left sleeve and closed around the grip of the extensible steel bar he kept strapped to his left forearm. Low technology, he thought, but capable of smashing skulls and so effective at close quarters.

"Just a little moment, I am on you side and that of your masters," pleaded Zakalwe. "You have technology we do not have and we have technology you do not have!"

A Night Attack

Caliban to Bubo IX

"Excuse me, Inquisitor Hawk, begging your pardon but Captain Pilgrim ordered me to report that your Daemonhost has left the ship."

"Excellent," Responded Hawk.

An Introduction

"Just one littlest quickie question," asked Mr Iridescent.
"No", stated Hammerhand, "there is no scope for negotiation. I need information now. I do not have time to answer every question you have. You have an opportunity to work with an "Unreal". Either take it or leave." Choose now or I will chose for you."
The flamboyantly dress little man was taken aback by this outburst. Then he brightened. Took a breath. drew himself up to his full height.
"Zakalwe," he said and stuck out his hand.
"Interesting."
"Who owns this place?"
"I do."

After Shocks

Emerging from the tunnel complex the surviving Chem Dogs staggered exhausted on to a blasted desolate desert terrain. It seemed as if they had been transported to another world. There were no signs of the lush vegetation and brightly coloured characterful creatures that had been there at dirt fall. The light was weak and grey. There was a heavy haze limiting visibility to a few hundred spans. Fine ash and dust swept across the scoured surface driven by gusting winds. Only due to their filtered chem inhaler systems could they breathe.

They had spent a day and a night carving a new tunnel to get out of the complex as everything within 500 spans below the surface had been pulverised by the bombardment. Alfus wondered where they were headed now. And who had thought to build a tunnel complex that could withstand an orbital bombardment. Alfus was now in charge of his squad. All that remained was five from the original ten. They still lugged their heavy bolter between them. Few squads had abandoned any of their weaponry as the Chem Inhalers prevented the troopers from losing heart regardless of their circumstances. Fingers flicked and the sergeants and squad leaders passed on the Gann's orders. They were led onwards to the position from which the defensive lasers had fired in short rushes from cover to cover.

Action Stations

Beneath the thatched roof the workshop was warm dry and impressively equipped. Tools were arranged in groups along the walls and in cupboards. There were power supplies of varying magnitude. Work surfaces, micro precision tools and micro manipulators along with both large and miniature furnaces. Every surface was clean and the floor swept.
Outside it looked like a shack and inside a paradise for Hammerhand.

"Mr Iridescent, you tell me that I can use this workshop for as long as I wish, and there is no charge, no payment, nothing owed."
"You must be completely correct about this as I have nothing to hand with which to settle any bills, nor do I wish to run up credit that will cause me and my benefactors any future embarrassment of any sort."
"Am I precisely clear about my position to you?"

"Your are, Sir and as I have already explained it is an honour too serve an Unreal Level such as yourself."
"I will pay the owners using my own resources which I assure you are ample for the purpose."
"In return I ask only one small thing."
It always comes finally down to a deal thought Hammerhand, even in a sense with Hawk. I would have been better slitting his gizzard as soon as Iridescent here stopped making sense.
"Please let me be your assistant while you complete your task here."
"First tell me your name," replied Hammerhand.

Basic Assumptions

Rain dripped from the canopy of branches overhead. Hammerhand had not been dry since his splashdown.
"What did you say your name was?" questioned Hammerhand.
"As matter of fact I did not say anything of the sort," replied the small personage.
"I have told you my level and will tell you my resource designation, but we do not know each other well enough to exchange names."
Hammerhand thought.
"Who are the armoured warriors I have have seen?" Hammerhand tried. "They do not seem to be your sort."
"Indeed not. They are not our sort. As you know, I am certain, they are our guest labourers."
"By the way is this a test?"
"It certainly is," retorted Hammerhand. Just who is being tested is another question he thought.
"If I needed something repaired, to whom should I take it, my good fellow?" tried Hammerhand.

Going Native

"You look to be an Unreal level", he stated. "Am I correct?" He asked. "In case you hadn't realised I have achieved a iridescent level".
Hammerhand regarded his captive, who was small overweight and dressed in some luxuriously foppish robes of discretely matching but bright colours. He was eye catching but there was nothing remotely iridescent about him. Hammerhand sighed. He had definitely felt unreal about the whole situation as soon as he had managed to get discretely ashore. He needed some tools.
"Do you have any tools?" He asked.
"Of course I have," replied the captive, "but why would an unreal want an iridescent tools?"

Surface Bound

The boys hugged the floor. They hugged each other. The ground shook, bucked and twitched under the orbital bombardment. Dust spurted from metastatic cracks in the plascrete ceiling of the bunker. The walls bulged inward with each cataclysmic blast. Several of the Chem Dogs had already received broken limbs, heads and backs from leaning on or simply being too close to the walls when the bombardment hit. Shock waves pulsed through their bodies. If the bombardment was prolonged many would die from internal cavitation injuries caused by the blast shock waves.



The air in the bunker was thick with fumes and particles. This and the shock waves did not trouble the Belismar Boys breathing kalm through their closed respiration systems. Few imperial units could survive such as bombardment as a fighting unit. Even for the Chem Dogs their time was limited. The bunker was deep and the Gann had lead them in closing the blast doors shortly before the bombardment began.

Cataclysm

Incandescent bubbles of light and energy flared around the falling fleet. Some was refracted by ether phase change screens produced by the ships. Others bursting close by the silent ships were reflexively penetrated by responding flares of light and debris from the ships as hulls burst open under the impact of the energy bursts. Still the fleet fell until close to the planet when ejected payloads hit preplotted trajectories. This time the fleet burned as fusion drives accelerated the ships from the tormenting energy bursts.

Payloads flared red on hitting the atmosphere. Some burst with massive electromagnetic impulses to paralyse electronic communications. Some burst into unbearable flares of light to destroy ground based optical sensors while the remainder fell hot but momentarily impassive on to their selected targets.