AGP- Melta-Bomb

Now, just to be clear, we all liked Twitch and there was no better demolitions trooper in the Imperium. We trusted him to set any explosive device and never worried about his traps misfiring, but the way he doted over that melta-bomb was unsettling. Emperor knows how Nubby and the Admin found that thing; we’d only asked for a few of the anti-armor bombs to show to the trainees. In addition to the nice normal ones that had been delivered, there’d been an extra box that was twice as large as others, and inside there’d been this absolute BEAST of a melta-bomb. It was NOT guard issue: if you could un-file the serial numbers and other markings it’d probably say something like “Property of the Adeptus Astartes, Intended for Anti-Titan Use Only”. Twitch called it Big Bertha and slept with it under his bed.

He’d had to raise his bed on blocks for it to fit.

Bertha was obviously intended for use by someone far stronger than a normal human, and everyone held their breath as Twitch wobbled under the bomb’s weight. While he fiddled with the timer and magnetic clamps, the rest of us pondered how to get it onto the ship without blowing ourselves up. The other team had marked a line across the crater entrance and according to them anyone crossing it would trigger another scarab attack. They’d done a little testing and it seemed that it was only people that set them off; rocks, las bolts, bullets, and even grenades were fine so long they didn't detonate against the ship. Since we weren’t keen on fighting scarabs while carrying an oversized melta-bomb, this all meant that we needed to figure out a way to get Bertha onto the ship’s hull without anyone entering the crater.

Since the typical ranged melta-bomb deployment method of just throwing the thing as hard as possible wasn’t an option, the agent suggested that the last two surviving psykers could levitate the bomb across the gap. Sarge vetoed this on the grounds that it was an incredibly stupid idea, and was thankfully able to supply a far more reasonable solution. Nubby and a few recruits were sent to collect pipes and scrap metal, while Sarge regaled everyone with the tale of how we’d dealt with a similar problem involving a tentacle daemon.

By the time Twitch had the bomb ready, a long, ugly, and surprisingly-sturdy pole had been constructed, and a fulcrum was set up on the edge of the line. Bertha was attached to the pole with her clamps facing forward, and with the help of several trainees, we slowly pushed the rod along the fulcrum. It was touch and go in a few spots, especially when a seam got stuck on the brace and nearly tipped it over, but we got it across and clamped to the hull without triggering an attack or blowing ourselves to little pieces. Once the breaching charge was in place, our trainees set up their heavy weapons, we finalized our attack plans, and everyone shielded their eyes as Twitch hit the detonator.

Bertha was a melta-bomb, so “her” detonation wasn’t the usual flash, bang, and shockwave of high explosives. Instead, there was a sort of hissing-crackling sound along with intense heat, blinding light, and a whole lot of smoke, which began to roil as scarabs swarmed through it. We responded by opening fire with our heavy weapons, and just holding the triggers down until the smoke cleared and the scarabs stopped coming.