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Penny's Pencils

Cinnabar Forever! (RCN)

"No, wait!" Otis shouted, he had to pull himself physically from his superior officers grip before darting across the room to one of the men Kaiden had shot. He tore open the mans vest and pulled a small electronic device, a personal data unit from the thugs belt. Shouts sounded from one of the corridors and Sabatine raised her impeller and fired three rounds in the general direction, the shriek shattering masonry and a cloud of vaporised plaster filled the air, hopefully encouraging any would be reinforcements to consider their choices. Otis ran in a crouch his head down scuttling back passed the officers and stumbling towards the kitchen as Kaiden shoved him. Sabatine's opinion of Otis rose several notches. His ship handling might be crude and his astrogation might be little better than the standard computer solution but the RCN would always have a place for officers who could keep their heads when the shooting started.

"Time to go," Kaiden announced and Sabatine turned and ran back into the kitchen. Contrary to orders, several of the spacers were in the basement door, including Higgs who grabbed Otis and half guided half shoved him down the stairway. As soon as he saw Kaiden and Sabatine moving he turned back down the stairs.

"Clear the lock!" he shouted at the riggers below and the thunder of feet told Sabatine that the whole detachment had been in the stairway, ready to rush forward if needed, but the bosun's shout cleared the way as effectively as a plasma blast would have. Wary of fouling Kaiden Sabatine jumped up and let her momentum slider her along the stainless steel table like a skatter taking a high speed fall on ice. She slid of the end and broke her momentum by slapping her back against the wall beside the door, her impeller pointed back at the dining room. Kaiden arched an eyebrow but didn't delay to insist she should go first, simply running down the stairs with the surety of a man who has run companionways a thousand times before. Sabatine stepped through after him pulling the door closed. She thrust the barrel if the impeller through the locking bar as an improvised bolt and took the stairs two at a time to the guardroom below.

"Thank the Gods," Tilda breathed as Kaiden appeared. It turned out that a few of the spacers had hung back to keep the reporter out of the way as the XO had instructed and to guard the prisoners. That was good, not that Sabatine cared if Kaiden tossed the chit out on her nicely rounded ass, but she would certainly have been trampled in the rush at the stairway.

"Move out!" Kaiden ordered and they began to doubletime back down the access pipe two abreast. Colby, an engine wiper who had the sour look of a man who had been away from booze long enough to be resenting it, hauled one of the prisoners to his feet.

"Ma'am what do we do with these?" he asked. The question probably should have been directed at Kaiden but Colby wasn't the brigtest star in the firmament and his longer familiarity with Sabatine made her the obvious choice. Sabatine glanced at Kaiden who shrugged.

"Press'em," she ordered decisively. Colby laughed and hauled the prisoner to his feet, another spacer did the same with the other survivor. Impressment was a time honored tradition in the RCN, though normally the victims were merchant spacers rather than random thugs.

"I doubt any of these lot know an airlock from their asshole," Colby commented, not questioning the order but in nasty humor at what the RCN's newest recruits could look forward to over the next couple of days.

"Well that is why the Gods gave us Bosuns Colby," she agreed as the group got moving heading down the tunnel at a jog. And if the worst thing these thugs had to look forward to was being beaten half to death by Higgs while they learned the ropes, then that was better than the deserved.

"Besides," she said with a dark grin, "there is a war on."

--------

"Lieutenant Hickoring," Micha snarled through clenched teeth, "What in the name of the Gods possessed you to pull a stunt like this!" Kaiden and Sabatine were in Micha's day cabin. A small 8x8 foot space that adjoined the captains bunk. It was luxurious by the standards of a starship, which meant that any civilian would have thrown their hands up about living in such a tight space. They had made it back to the Vickie without further incident, and had dispatched Ottis to the medicomp for a full scan. Micha had not been pleased, both at their delayed return and at the fact that Sabatine had effectively circumvented his authority. For her own part Sabatine hadn't had a chance to clean up and was still covered with masonry dust, giving her utility uniform an odd leporous cast under the lights of the day cabin. The small hairs on her right hand had been burned away and there was a slight grey sheen of redeposited metal from the impeller slugs she had fired.

"No excuse sir!" Sabatine replied, her eyes fixed at a point just beyond Micha's right shoulder. It was the academy answer and Micha's grinding teeth were all but audible. He glared at her for a long moment.

"I don't hold you to blame Lieutenant Caladwarden, you are new to the ship and doubtless were unaware that I had told Miss Hickoring to let the local authorities handle it," he told Kaiden his voice holding a touch of deference to his aristocratic better even if his rank gave him power of Kaiden.

"Until I say otherwise you are on permanent anchor watch Hickoring, and be thankful that your gallivanting didn't cost us more than it has already." Sabatine wasn't sure what her 'gallivanting' had cost them, seeing they had Ottis back more or less in one piece and the wogs would know not to fuck with the RCN in future, but there didn't seem to be much advantage to asking.

"You sounded the recall sir?" she asked, glad to change the subject. Micha blinked as though surprised.

"Ah yes, there was an extraction on the fringes of the system that the customs boat picked up, the ship wasn't identified and we think it may have been an Alliance scout."

"I see sir," Sabatine said in a neutral voice. She didn't really, more than likely the extraction was merely a merchantman taking star sights and in an hour or so they would jump close enough to the world to approach on high drive. Even if it was, they were in a secure harbor protected by anti-ship batteries, there was hardly any cause to recall the spacers mid liberty.

"We will be lifting in two hours, we can't risk being caught on the ground if the Alliance has declared war," Micha concluded.

"Sir." Sabatine responded without inflection. That seemed to draw Micha's ire as his eyes blazed and he seemed on the verge of another outburst.

"You are dismissed Lieutenant," he snapped instead, and Sabatine turned on her heel and marched out of the room, leaving Kaiden alone with the Captain.

Star Crossed: The Duke's Rebellion

Rene watched through the binoculars for several minutes. Finally a man, clearly Bouradine from the video they had seen, emerged from the treeline in the direction of the ruins. In his arms were bundled several strange looking stalks of a greenish brown root of some kind. The trader walked over to the millitary pod and then knelt down and began to peel the root with a small powered knife, he held each length over a small plastic bucket, allowing sap to drip from the root into the bucket before vanishing into the escape pod. Of Bel'sian there was no sign.

"Well we might not get a better chance," Rene said turning to regard his companions. For a moment he struggled with how to proceed balancing different skillsets and temperaments.

"Rosaria, you are up front with me, Dasin and Yarue the two of you stay behind us and either side of Solae," Rene ordered. Rosaria smiled broadly, no doubt thinking that Rene's choice reflected confidence in her. Realistically he would rather have the girl running point beside him where she couldn't accidentally shoot him him in the back as keyed up as she was. Armed with the tranquilizer gun Solae had prepared, it wasn't going to be a problem if she accidentally shot Bouradine full of sedative and she was young and keyed up. That was the right type of person to have on point. Both of the Syshin were steadier by far, but their natural inclination would be not to shoot, which could be a problem if it really needed to be done. In some ways Solae would be a better choice for the lead, but if he put an Imperial Duchess on the point of an assault team a marine drill instructor would materialize from the ether and rip his intestines out on general principles.

"What are you smiling at?" Solae asked him with a cocked eyebrow. Rene forced the grin down with some difficutly.

"I was just thinking, that no class on small unit tactics I ever took involved deploying two Syshin, a teenage girl and a Sector Duchess," he admitted, feeling unexpectedly ebullient.

"Alright, lets go."

They moved across the open grassland in a loose diamond formation. Rene and Rosaria at the front with Solae at the rear. They didn't quite move at a run, Rene didn't want to outdistance his companions, but it was a brisk jog. He resisted the urge to tell them to spread out and maintain their distance. It was a natural tendency of all groups in dangerous situation to close ranks, that had probably been a good move on the ancient savannah of Old Earth, but it was less so in the age of automatic weapons. Still this was no time for him to be teaching fire and manuever techniques. Bouradine had not emerged from the pod by the time they reached the camp. It was clearly improvised, built from supply crates which must have been stuffed into Bouradine's original pod. A catalytic cooker and some fold out chairs sat in a loose circle beside a trio of solar powered refrigerator/condenser units which held food and water. The short grass had been flattened in tracks that showed where foot traffic tended to occur, mostly between the two pods and with a third track leading away towards the ruins. Rene guestured to Rosaria to stick close to him and unslung his rifle, brining the stock to his shoulder as he approached the door of the pod. He held up three fingers, tapped his hand three times and then stepped through the door, still a heart beat ahead of Rosaria who, at least, didn't jostle him as he made his entry.

Inside the pod he found Bouradine crouched over a woman in Imperial Navy fatigues, the legs had been cut away and burns disfigured the woman's lower body. The trader looked up at them in frozen surprise, he had a sponge in his hand which he had clearly been using to bathe the awful burns that leaked sera and smelled faintly of suppuration. Bouradine's eyes were wide and shocked to be suddenly confronted by a soldier in battledress and a jumpy looking girl.

"Don't move," Rene instructed, not razing his voice to emphasize the threat of the barrel of his plasma rifle. Bouradine had a pistol on his hip, but it clearly hadn't even occurred to him to draw it until Rene spoke. The spacer moaned deliriously, clearly too out of it either because of infection or whatever analgesics she was being dosed with. The trader began to tremble in fear and the sponge fell from his hand.

"Who...who," he stammered.

"I'm Colonel Quentain of the Imperial Marines," Rene said, raising his elbow to gesture to Rosaria without moving the bore of his rifle so much as an inch.

"This is Rosaria, and both of us would like it very much if you would put that pistol on the ground and then kick it over towards us."

The MECHnificent Seven(a mech Rp in the Lancer system)

Its an interesting mix of trad and story elements that is for sure.

The MECHnificent Seven(a mech Rp in the Lancer system)

Yeah that utopian antifacisim is just the worst!

Penny's Pencils

Dogs of War: Old World Mercenaries

"Well it couldn't happen to a nicer group," Emmaline muttered as they swung up into the saddles of the two most promising horses. Emmaline drew a sword from a saddle slung scabbard and slapped the rumps of the other mounts, sending them running back towards Delbertz. If any of Vandershute's men did survive, there was no point in making it easy to pursue them. Not, by the sound of the roaring troll, that survival seemed a likely outcome. Without further discussion they drove their heels into their already skittish mounts racing down the forest path away from the trolls and their grisly feast.

The sun was well sinking toward the horizon by the time the reached the town of Mittleweg. Located at a crossroad of the Middenheim road and the northern arm of the River Delb it was a prosperous looking place. With tall steeply pitched roofs and pallisade walls. Several river barges were pulled up at warves where goods were being loaded and unloaded by sweating stevedores. A broad belt of farmland surrounded the city proper keeping the towering Drakwald at bay. A temple to Ulric stood upon the small hill at the center of town, the wolfhead banners snapping in the autumn breeze. They had ridden their horses hard and the beasts were almost played out as they passed through the city gates. Emmaline's legs and bottom ached from the unaccustomed activity. For the hundredth time she swore she was going to sit down and have a long conversation with a certain carpet about its limited endurance. It was possible that Vandershute's thugs might pursue them, but by the time they found horses it would be dark and only a complete idiot would ride the Drakwald by night. Even if they did they would arrive to closed gates and have to search the city for the pair of them. A thankless task in the dead of night.

"I promise I shall keep my mouth shut about beastmen this time," Emmaline said as the trotted through the streets. At least this time she was properly dressed and not attracting undue attention.

The Pavonis Campaign - Warhammer 40000

Katiya swept up her peaked cap as it blew against her feet, she snatched it up and shoved it down on her head, dumping a handful of dust over her face as she did so. All was chaos and confusion. She could only assume that Captain Raloc had summoned the vehicles to retrieve him, shortly before the rebel bomb had killed him and leveled the Arbities Sanctum. Another rebel appeared out of the smoke and Katiya shot him in the head, her bolt pistol clicking dry.

"Armored units, this is Commissar Petrovska, cease fire we have friendlies in the AO. You are to withdraw half a klom to the south," she called over the vox. There was a moments hesitation before a pair of 'yes ma'ams' sounded in the vox bead in her ear. There was clear dissapointment in the troopers voices but if the blundered around in the smoke and dust the rebels would have them for sure.

"Once you reach there hold for my command," she continued, methodically reloading her pistol. There was still firing going on in the smoke, though Katiya didn't imagine there could be any Arbites survivors. She could hear rounds whining of the chimera and the hell hound but both vehicles were already backing at full speed, tracks throwing up torn pavement and keeping their thick frontal armor pointed at the enemy. There wasn't any practical way to cross to the vehicles without being cut down so Katiya turned instead to the cinder block wall which had sectioned off what had been a vehicle park. She shrugged off her great coat and passed it to Connors.

"Shield me," she directed. The corporal clearly didn't understand but he held the greatcoat up as she directed. Katiya drew the powersword from its scabbard, lit the blade and then plunged it into the wall in a downward slash. The powere blade hissed as it parted rockrete, teh bluish glow hopefully hidden from the half blind rebels by the coat. She made two more cuts and a triangular section of the wall tumbled free. Extinguishing the sword she climbed through to the other side. Connors followed handing her the coat as he clambered through. A few shots struck the wall on the far side but that was probably more random chance.

"Open fire," she directed the tanks which had by now pulled back out of the concealing smoke. Autocannons and multilasers howled immediately, ripping through the smoke. The whine of ricochets was loud and nauseating as the heavy weapons chopped through the plaza sweeping down the rebels who hadn't yet gone to ground.

"What are we shooting at ma'am?" one of the armored commanders asked. Katiya was gratified that he had opened fire before wasting time asking such a question.

"Area target, anyone alive in that smoke is to be presumed a rebel," she responded.

"Are you in communications with base?" she asked, knowing that the chimera would have much better vox equipment than the short range bead she was using.

"Yes ma'am, they say they have demonstrators in the streets, no fighting yet though," the unknown sergeant replied. Katiya looked at Connors, there was no way they were going to be able to rejoin the vehicles, not without bringing them back into missile range, and they just didn't have enough armor to take the risk.

"Tell Lieutenant... Owens, that he is in command and he is to hold his position, dig in as best he can. He is not to open fire without provocation, but respond if fired upon. Under no circumstances is he to take troops into the streets. Also we have seen the rebels use one vehicle bomb already, tell him to frag anything that gets too close."

There was a long pause, doubtless the vehicle commander would have preferred the Commissar deliver the orders herself, but that wasn't going to be practical. After a moment he called a confirmation.

"Cease fire and return to base," she directed, "if you find your way blocked or unsafe, rally to the palace until I can get through to you," she added.

"Yes ma'am? What about you?" came the reply a heartbeat before the roar of autocannons ceased. Katiya could hear the cries of wounded rebels from the plaza but there was no point in keeping the tanks there to be outflanked. The commissar looked up at the sky, the sun was hazy and blood red as it sank through the smoke towards the horizon.

"We will have to make our own way back," she replied and turned to her companion.

"Well Corporal, I suggest we get moving, I suspect the streets are going to be full of these 'demonstrators' tonight," her tone was cold. Whatever was happening on Pavonis, it was no simple civil unrest. Protesting workers didn't usually go for suicide bombings. And it seemed awfully convenient that it had managed to knock out both the senior Arbities Adept, and the senior Guard officer in one blow.

The Sinful Stars

The house Duke Placedo, the summer house, as Annika was later to learn, was an impressive place. It reared up before them atop a hill, surrounded on all sides by groves of orange trees and carefully tended grape vines. Peasants toiled both in the orchards and tending herds or large creatures with thick wooly pelts with which Annika was not familiar. There was no central village as these were serfs of the estate rather than town folk, though there was a wine press and a water mill as well as several other communal outbuildings mostly clustered along a small stream that wound its way down to the bay the house overlooked. The house itself was surrounded by a wall of worked stone, though the wall was somewhat lower on the hill than the house so as not to obstruct its view of the scenic bay beyond, the structure itself was of warm stone with many wings, each ending in a large rounded turret and roofed with tile of a glazed terracotta. Annika didn't doubt that the house was defensible, being located on a hill that formed a slight promontory overlooking the bay and approachable only via a long winding track paved with stone. Generations of horses had worn a slight declivity in the track that made it feel narrower than it was, though attacking enemies trying to run up hill towards the walls would have found the place narrow enough in truth.

Cleo his guard somewhat lowered, appeared to be talking enthusiastically about hawking with Orion, a topic in which Orion was either interested or at least knowledgeable enough to fake interest for the Hazat's benefit. None of Cleo's companions appeared to be taking much of an interest in their strange guests, other than to occasionally glare at Ragnar who kept a look of haughty contempt on his brutish features. Only one of them appeared to be of Cleo's rank, a younger cousin from what Annika had overheard and he appeared to be keeping his distance from the new comers. The others were probably minor nobility, the kind of hangers own who inevitably attached themselves to their betters.

"Why don't you want them to know who you are?" Annika asked Filenia as they approached the gates of the wall. The gates were made of iron wood and sported a massive symbol of House Hazat. The stone towers flanking it were low and ancient in construction, though the stubby barrels of automatic machine guns projecting from the loopholes suggested that they had their uses in modern times also.

"None of your business priest," Filenia hissed in arrogant disgust at having been addressed by a lowly member of the clergy.

"Ah but it is my business, as Sir Pentecost's confessor it is my business to shield his soul from unwholesome influences, which might include you," she responded calmly. Filenia's face darkened with rage but she obviously didn't want to risk a scene here an now.

"I will speak to Sir Orion about it and not his lap dog," she snapped, walking away from the priestess before Annika could press her with further questions.