Novella - Lasfire Under the Aurora Chapter 1
Lasfire under the Aurora Chapter 1
Lars knew how to disassemble and reassemble this longlas in the dark. He had practiced this ritual since he was a youth, the ornate sniper rifle had belonged to his father, the father he never knew and his father before him. He whispered a prayer to the Emperor as it lay in pieces by on his lap. The moisture from his breath settled on his face and re-breather refracting the icy blue solar flares in the atmosphere as he slowed his breathing and fell into the routine of his maintenance ritual.
With Fire Team Delta perched in over-watch, up on the higher levels of a snowed out an shelled duty calling tower. The main thrust of the Astra Militarum force was able to advance through the industrial sector, in the distance Lara could hear distant shelling, and he knew it would not be long before the Xenos attempted to outflank his regiment, his team would see action soon.
Though he had never set foot on this planet, Lars knew this buildings layout well. Back home his mother and uncle where called early every morning to work in the manufactoriums by a building much the same as this, though these were happier days with less snow and shell holes, in the darkness it did give him some comfort. The building called the duty shift to prayer and they began their shift with a benediction from the duty officer to the god of Terra, and the apostles of mars.
The calling tower sat at the edge of the main manufacturing district of this now forsaken metropolis. From his position he could see several similar towers forming a disappearing arc off into the moonlit night. He knew the arc returned on the other side of the tower, forming a ring defining the sacred manufactorium district within. The buildings themselves where riddled with impacts, craters, broken machinery and war machines and formed a defensive rotund in which the mechanised guardsmen sallied forth to raid the invaders. Which currently occupied the snow cloaked shanty of stacked hab units that started on the other side of the Grand Prayer Square that formed the killing field in-front of their position and swept off to the horizon.
Lars hadn’t seen one of the Xenos yet, his tour had just begun and he had spent the first shift of it leading his over-watch team attached as top cover for the company command squad. He led his team with distinction and he knew it was a huge honour to serve in this capacity, but he yearned to test himself and the skill of his men against the blue-skins.
On the lower levels of the tower was Gamma squad, a mechanised fireateam of ten guardsmen and their disabled Taurox transport. The squad where spaced out on the ground floor where the building stepped out to provide the corner of the grand prayer square. A gleaming bronze statue of an astartes stood in the middle of the square, the marine stooped in prayer facing towards the duty officers balcony, leading all in his penitence, the snow on the crown of his bronze head and shoulders gave the astartes the look of a man dressed for winter, in a fur hat and the pelt of some winter predator, somewhat like the men of Vostroya. Lars has heard many stories about the astartes, but he had never seen one. There where rumour that a mysterious ship had joined the fleet on route from the segmentus sector to assist with the interventionist force, but rumour was rife in the company. Men were weak to the tales of astartes and Lars knew it, his own father having supposedly died at the hands of one.
Lars is a young man of good breeding, his men respect his skills and fear his tongue. The main protagonist of the story, his Vostroyan team of three snipers and a heavy bolter team engage in a tense firefight with Tau forces. They watch as the squads of their brethren are sent out and in the snowy distance disappear. The action returns at night under the glare of the aurora and a tense sniper duel takes place in the snow between Lars’s squad and a tau squad both similarly matched.
What I’m interested in exploring is a tense duel undertaken between the humans and a more technically advanced enemy. I want to show the brotherhood expected in the troops but also the close bond of elite soldiers and how when that is shattered it effects them. The scenery and backdrop are unusual, a snowy empty metropolitan landscape lit by the aurora is something I’ve never explored before, and I’m not overly familiar with Vostroyan lore. I’m interested in atmosphere. I think a tense sniper battle under Aurora in the snow is interesting imagery.
This is a test draft for the Black Library Summer of Writing:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScLuYYJVfk5F7Xb6PENyS3lXczSGdmCT0_4vpNw9zWI362X3Q/viewform
Fat Dwarf
Remember and subscribe if you want to see how this article series progresses..
As promised we are trying to add relative links for OZ/NZ, Canada and the USA as I know much of you Beardlings are in fact based in our sister nations. So this will be updated with these links soon.
Australia / New Zealand
We also work for the Mperor ... click the link and get $5 off your first order! or Repent!
click this link or suffer the wrath of The Ordo Hereticus MPEROR
Canada / USA - Apologies, We are still working on partnering up here with white metal games and Ministomp.
The Tabletop Hobbit also has his own Facebook blog. Find it Here - https://www.facebook.com/TheTableTopHobbit/
.jpg)
Comments