Varus met the apostates and sinners before him with zeal and jubilation, smiling even as their prayers scratched at his ears."Though the preaching of the heretic may be loud-!" he proclaimed, as he brought his weapon to bear, as the heretics stared down the barrel of his bolt pistol.



He fired. Once, twice, and the thunder and shriek of those shots rang aloud over the clamor of battle, echoing through the trees. The wet sound of the rounds striking flesh went almost unheard over the ear-piercing claps of the bolts detonating.



"-But the report of a boltgun will always drown it out!" Varus cried aloud as his foremen fell. But he didn't slow, his chainsword whipping out, the zealous soul of the weapon adding its voice to the chorus of destruction. The engine growled as armor tore, flesh pulled apart and bone splintered, and the Commissar raised his blood-stained blade toward the heavens.



"He is with us, the Master of Mankind, and through Him our victory is assured!" He shouted, joyous. "Emperor and no quarter, Guardsmen!"



[QUOTE="greendoor, convMessage: 1564932, member: 394"]

It takes a two long minutes for things to calm down enough to take stock.



"Casualties?" Lt. Fritz calls out, now that noise discipline is unnecessary, and the squads are close together. A chorus of replies from sergeants and NCOs. A few wounded, no KIA. Fritz looks relieved.



"I can barely believe it." you hear Sergeant Rike says, surprised, before she falls in back behind you. A few low power shots ring out as the Raschlanders clean up the battlefield, not content to let any enemy wounded slip away. Still, you hear the rustling in the leaves as someone approaches. Rifles snap up.

[/QUOTE]

Varus sucked in a breath, resisting the urge to take a seat or lean against a tree. He was out of breath after the fighting and shouting, but the appearance of weakness was weakness itself. He forced himself to pace his breathing, even as his chest burned. He turned as Sergeant Rike caught up, and raised a silent eyebrow at her. He produced a cloth from his coat, running it over the gore-churned teeth of his chainsword, inspecting the teeth for damage.



"Barely believe what, Sergeant?" he asked, curious.

[QUOTE="greendoor, convMessage: 1564932, member: 394"]

Half a dozen figures come from the direction the enemy had come from. Raschland soldiers in dirtied and bloodied uniforms emerge from the foliage. One soldier lacks a rifle entirely, and so has busied herself with helping along another who is missing a leg below the knee. The others only look slightly less haggard. They're lead by a Corporal, who seems the least injured. He looks over the thirty odd soldiers pointing rifles at him.



"I see you got our message, Ma'am." The NCO says. You notice him give a wary and unfamiliar look to you, before returning to the officer. "Heretics had us pinned down for hours. I can guess why they didn't finish us off now." He says, glancing to the rescue party.



A classic ambush scenario. It might've worked too, had they not been so ill trained and armed.



(OOC: Fight over. Mission is not over, quite yet)

[/QUOTE]

"Ahem. Corporal, the day code, if you would please?" Varus asked, pleasantly, even as his off-hand drooped toward the pistol at his side. He didn't doubt the man was a Guardsmen, but discipline had to be enforced. Ill discipline got you the ragged rebels they had so easily cut down. The ambush had failed, but that was unsurprising. If one were operating from a position of strength, an ambush was largely unnecessary and ultimately redundant. To rely on such tactics proved the weakness of the Unchained and that it had failed so utterly only doubly proved it.



As motley a unit as the company had proven to be, he had to admit, he could see a core of strength in them. They had pushed through the cowardly tactics of the foe and crushed them. They were like a raw vein of Adamantium, strong in nature but needing refinement to reach their true potential. Varus knew he would make sure they reached that potential. Anything less would be an unthinkable humiliation.



"And perhaps, Corporal. If they thought to use you for bait, then they dearly miscalculated. Your fallen have been avenged tenfold."