[Keichi246]

Shas’la Vior’la Ukos lay in the darkest shadow of the shattered building; his breath echoing hollowly within his helmet. Night had fallen, and the only illumination was the guttering fires of several other buildings. The guella had fought fiercely over this part of the shattered city; and the ruins of a wrecked main battle tank, what did they call it? a leh’man roos? still smoked a few yards away. The rest of his team lay concealed among the wreckage of the light industrial workshop.
A voice buzzed in his helmet. “Team Lapath’ka – sensor drones indicate a heavy war vehicle is advancing into your sector. Ascertain position and prepare to engage. Tau’va!”
To his left the Shas’ui peered up a moment, noted that their path appeared clear, and waved for the team to advance. With barely a rustle, the Pathfinder team moved forward into the smoky darkness.

***
Princeps Frelan Dox strode across the battlefield; mindlinked into the mighty Lucius pattern Warhound Titan “Sanctus Luparius”. His mind’s eye could hear the snarling of the machine spirit; and he sent soothing thoughts to calm it. So far – his patrols had come up empty; and the machine spirit of the titan chafed with the lack of action. The Legion had been sent to this world to salvage the remains of an Imperial army; yet so far the cowardly Tau had not met it in battle. Instead – the Tau continued to harass and batter the shattered remnants of the Cadian 122nd.
“Princeps – HQ has indicated that a Cadian patrol has been eliminated at grid 198 by 127. Less than 5 miles from here,” Moderati Voss reported.
Princeps Dox smiled a hunter’s smile. “Good. Perhaps we shall find some sport.”
With a grace and agility surprising in such a large vehicle, the Warhound pivoted and loped into the night.

***
“Everyone down!” the Shas’ui barked, and the team scrambled into what cover they could find. Shas’la Ukos looked around himself. This area had apparently been a warehouse district before the war. Here and there surprisingly intact crates stuck out of the rubble. His trained eye could make out the signature blast pattern of seeker missiles and the scorchmarks of the imperial laser weaponry. Someone had made a stand here; and it had obviously ended poorly.
Suddenly, he could here a crashing noise – moving towards him and his team at a rapid pace. It sounded as if someone was repeatedly smashing armored tanks into something. Then he realized they were footsteps. He hunched into cover a little deeper and adjusted the optics on his helmet.
Pounding through the night was the largest mecha he had ever seen. It was many times the size of Crisis Suits of his cadre. It had a hunched over profile, with an obvious cockpit/sensory module in the front. Two massive weapons replaced its arms. It strode through the rubble like a questing animal, it’s head swiveling back and forth. He heard the Shas’ui report the contact to Command.
“Command – enemy mecha unit spotted. Team Lapath’ka, requesting armored support. This thing looks big and nasty.”
“Negative Lapath’ka. Only available support is a pair of Barracudas on high cover. They’ll provide seeker support.”
“Tau’va”

***

“Princeps – sensors have detected a scrambled transmission nearby,” the Moderati reported.
“Can you isolate it?” Princeps Dox asked – while the machine spirit howled behind hind.
“Negative – we barely got a sniff of it as it was – it was encrypted on a frequency jumping sideband. It was gone within moments.”
“We know their here. It will be enough. We will find them. And then we shall kill them.”

***

“Here’s the plan – we will spread out a bit and wait. Just before the Barracudas start their run – we will paint it with markerlights. They’ll kill it – we’ll move up and search the wreckage for any intelligence info for command before we call up the ‘fish and head back. Any questions?” Silence met his reply. The team had been together long enough to know their roles by now. “Good. Tau’va!”
Shas’la Ukos crept sideways – clearing a little distance between himself and his team. He could still see the Warhound, prowling through the wreckage of a warehouse a little ways away. It was facing away from him and his team – good. He settled into a good spot and carefully aimed his weapon. He slowed his breathing and waited.
“Engage!”
Shas’la Ukos pulled the trigger. On the display in his helmet he could see the indicator of his markerlight settle onto the dorsal armor of the giant mecha. He toggled the signaler to broadcast that he had a good lock and the pulse frequency of his light – so that the inbound seekers could track in on it. Four of his teammates’ signalers came on at almost the exact same moment…

***

Princeps Dox felt a prickling sensation on the back of his neck. Suddenly there was a howl from the Machine spirit in his head.
“Princeps – we’re getting lased from behind!” the Moderati exclaimed.
The Princeps thought a command, and suddenly he and the mighty war machine were one. A snarl leapt from his lips as he pivoted left, to whirl around to face his attackers.
There – most of the signals were coming from there – the left arm containing his Vulcan MegaBolter rose…

***

Shas’la Ukos saw the mecha spin away from most of his team’s markerlights, and grimly held it on target. Wow! It is fast, he thought. He saw it raise its left arm.
The autodampers on his helmet suppressed a massive flare as a thunderous roar filled the night. Fear clamped in his gut as five of his teammate’s indicators went black simultaneously. He heard a sound like hundreds of cacophonous bells ringing, and realized he was hearing the spent shells from that hell weapon clatter on the ground. An acrid smell came through his helmet filters as he felt a moistness spread on the ground around him…
Then a streak of light arrowed in from above him, slamming the mecha in the upper shoulder. Three others flashed just past it into to slam into the ground; their guidance suddenly terminated.
“Yes!” he exulted as he saw the distinctive flash of a seeker missile detonating. The feeling turned to ashes as a loud electrical snapping sound filled the air. As the smoke cleared – he realized the mech was undamaged.
He heard the voice of his Shas’ui . “Command – the target has shields. Repeat – the target has shields.”

***

The Princeps felt the impact in his own shoulder, but there was no pain. The Void Shields had stopped it. He felt his senses probe the night – searching for more of the vermin who had dared to strike at him.
“Princeps, two aircraft inbound!” the Moderati reported, as he found the infantry hiding in ruins in front of him. The Warhound lunged forward; even as it’s right arm rose to track the inbound fighter…

***

Shas’la Ukos gaped in horror as the Warhound suddenly darted forward. He saw the Shas’ui scramble from his cover and start to sprint away; just as a massive foot smashed down from the heavens and blotted another of his teammates from the universe forever. The Shas’ui lasted a few agonizing seconds longer – before he too was squashed by the feet of the rampaging mech. Shas’la Ukos felt the urge to flee – to run from the rampaging monster that had all but annihilated his team.
Then the right arm – which was pointed away behind Ukos, fired a sunbright burst of energy. The ravening ball of plasma smashed into the lead Barracuda coming in on its strafing run to flaming wreckage which soared over his head and crashed somewhere behind the behemoth. The second Barracuda opened up with its Ion Cannon as it swept over the battlefield. Another electrical crack snapped across the battlefield as another shield fell.
“Barracuda Lead is down. We can’t get close to that thing unless we get proper support.” A voice crackled over his communicator.
“Team Lapath’ka, can you mark the target for support fire?” He heard the voice from command over his helmet comm. Ukos felt a strange calm come over him…

***

Princeps Dox felt the hunger now – the hunger to smash the enemies of the Emperor and the Machine God. The hunger to destroy…
“Princeps – both Void Shields are down and the Techpriest says it will take at least 3 minutes to reset the breakers.” the Moderati informed him.
The hunger faded a bit. Without the void shields, the Warhound was a lot more vulnerable to enemy fire.
“First, let us finish the last of these rats. Sensors to maximum sensitivity – I want to show them what it means to face the wrath of the Emperor.”

***

“Command – what’s left of Team Lapath’ka will mark the target.” Sha’la Ukos heard himself say. Everything seemed distant – yet hyperdetailed. The crackle of the fires, the smell of pulverized stone, the crashing of the mecha turning towards him. Time slowed as his he raised his carbine and aimed squarely at the nose of the mecha. The markerlight designator settled precisely over one of the massive windows on the head …

***

The sensors and Princeps saw the Pathfinder at the same time. He wasn’t moving – just aiming a personal weapon at the Titan.
“You fool! Now I have yo…”
“Princeps – we’re being lased!” the Moderati interrupted.

The moment stretched out impossibly – the Pathfinder staring down the monster. And then the flash and the roar blotted out everything…

[ShadowCrawler]

Sweet, was it the pathfinder shooting at the end or getting vaped by the titan

[Keichi246]

Originally Posted by ShadowCrawler

Sweet, was it the pathfinder shooting at the end or getting vaped by the titan

Does it matter?

I orginally had the Pathfinder winning - but then I realized it wasn't necessary.

I am trying for that "Lady or the Tiger" effect - for the story - it really doesn't matter who won...

If the Titan won - "woo hoo - a Warhound titan beat some infantry. Woopty doo..."

If the Pathfinder won - well - he is the only survivor of his his squad - yes he won - but victories like that do nothing for the Tau'va.

It's been prowling around in hte back of my head for a while.

Dave

[Yoriaki]

can i ask a question? its not to do with ur story, but what is this section? we write a story or somthing? plz answer me bak btw i rly liked the story

[Fire_Warrior 032]

Yeah this is the fluff/story part of the site. People post stories they've written and get feedback. Please check mine out, it's my first 40k fluff and I don't know whether or not it is any good... Also nice story I liked it ;D