Day 7
Tanya
As our caravan approaches the crater that houses the bandit camp, I motion with a hand movement to split up. As the five centaurs carrying each two teams of doubles circle the crater, me and Hans, driving our own vehicle, make our way to the canyon's entrance.
Pressing my vox-caster, tuned into the channel the commissar designated for this operation I say, "Sir, we have arrived, we will be in a position in 5 minutes."
With the white static of the Radiowaves stopping I hear back, "Confirmed, ETA on bombardment is 5 minutes." nodding to myself I motion for Hans to position us towards the entrance, parking our own centaur in a way that will block the road.
As I climb up to the heavy stubber, checking it for any irregularities I hear Hans, "So, Commandant Tanya. Since your plan is to make that crater a graveyard, should we be expecting any prisoners besides the one the Commissar requested we capture?"
At his question I humm, checking my watch, '4 minutes still' "No, we won't be taking prisoners. We will be doing a full sweep of the camp to finish off any survivors as well."
At that he nods, moving to rifle through the weapons stored in the centaur. Picking up a Melta gun and pausing for a second, he stares at a Flamer. As if plagued by indecision, he keeps switching his gaze toward the flamer and his Lucius pattern lasgun.
Rolling my eyes I say, "Leave the flamer Hans, it's not like you will be entering a trench or a building. Matter of fact, there won't be anything but flat land there in a bit."
With shoulders slacking and an "Aww…" he climbs down from the centaur, As he does so I begin to think over the plan once again in my mind. It's nothing really fancy, those five centaurs are each carrying two twin-linked heavy stubbers, along with 4 kriegsmen. Allowing two squads of doubles to be carried by each centaur.
Before 4 minutes are up, those teams should have surrounded the crater, creating emplacements overseeing its entirety. With 10 teams manning heavy stubbers, this entire hole will be a kill zone, not allowing anyone to escape.
Besides shooting anything that will try to leave the area, those teams are also instructed to provide supporting fire for Hans, who will be entering the settlement to capture the Aura-blessed individual. All in all, a simple plan.
As I glance at the settlement with my binoculars, I can see the occupants staring at the forming dust clouds from the moving centaurs. As the first emplacements find their position, the twin-barreled heavy stubbers lowering their aim downwards towards the settlements, I can see some of the people point at them.
Checking my watch again, I take a slow breath as a smile makes its way on my face. 'only 2 more minutes.'
Pewter Slate
Pewter Slate is one of the few people to have been lucky enough to awaken his own aura. Yes, he was the one to awaken his own aura. Though rare, such cases are not unheard of. When faced with mortal peril as well as an amplified emotional state, a person has a chance to experience an awakening.
His own happened while he was kidnapped to the slums of Mistral, what many consider the most vile grand city, even if the others are not much better. Pewter was born an orphan, found abandoned in front of one of the orphanages that get sponsored by the elite of mistral to make themselves feel better and to have a topic to talk about while drinking tea imported from Sanus.
There Pewter grew up until he was 15 years old, entering what is considered the age of majority in most of Remnant. After reaching 15, he was promptly booted out of the orphanage and told to make something of himself. In the beginning, he was hopeful, after all, while he was only an inhabitant of the lower middle layers there were many opportunities for him to make a living from.
After hopping from job to job eventually, he started work as a courier, delivering packages between the layers. Many would see this as a shady line of work, and they would be right. Most people that utilized a homeless orphan to deliver things for them undoubtedly did so because they could write said orphan off if they got caught.
The first two years working as a courier went by well enough. He made enough lien to cover a shoddy apartment in one of the mega-buildings, large apartment complexes that are towns in their own right. Built after the great war, to house all of the incoming immigrants from the smaller cities and settlements, a single mega-building can house up to 10 thousand people.
Though, of course, they are by no means charity. Even with the dirt cheap prices of renting one, most of them are still owned by large Corporations such as Atlas Industries, CCCompany (Cross-Continental Company), Merlot Industries, etc.
If you do not manage to pay the fee for every individual living in your apartment to the floor manager, you will end up either having your utilities cut off or worse being kicked out. Having seen the second happen many times to families that got dragged outside by the police, I made sure to always set a separate stash of money for paying rent.
After two years of running packages up and down the layers of mistral, my luck at some point ran out. After delivering a package with a suspiciously high commission out of desperation to make the month's rent, I got caught by the local Scavenger gang, getting drugged and packed up the next thing I knew I was strapped to a flimsy hospital bed.
The scavengers are what everyone in Remnant considers to be the most vile group, they usually participate in Human or Organ trafficking, though they are most definitely not above running extortion rackets and such.
While the Scavengers are not loved by anyone, they are also like cockroaches. Their power structure being completely decentralized makes them more akin to a group of gangs classified as Scavs than a single gang. The only thing tying them together is the fact that they are all connected by their black market channels.
Looking all around me the only things I could make out were the mutilated and harvested corpses of undoubtedly other stupid enough couriers to take the same job. Failing to untie myself from the restraints and… crying, as I am unashamed to admit, a few minutes and a lot of pleading later an ugly-looking motherfucker with a scalpel is cutting open the place my kidney is.
Knowing I would be fucked if nothing happened, and running high on adrenaline something inside of me just… snapped, the next thing I knew was that my vision was tinted in gray and I had broken the leather straps tying me to the hospital bed.
Growing up in a place like Mistral will do nothing to shelter you from the realities of the world, and that is why without hesitation, I grabbed the closest thing to me, which turned out to be a heavy circular saw, and bludgeoned the guy to death.
After a lot more smashing and a few gunshots, I made my way outside of the Scav basement. Looking around and realizing that I was in the Slums of mistral, the most outer layer of the city. After making my way back to my apartment covered in blood, but not stopped by the guards that could not care less either, it finally dawned on me.
I had aura! The power that previously I could only watch on TV, the power I realized I knew nothing about as my door was broken in and I got taken into custody. Being lucky enough not to have a Criminal record besides a few Break-ins is probably what saved me from being imprisoned.
At that point in time, things went by very quickly. The next thing I knew I was conscripted into Haven Academy, after a short meeting with the headmaster that made it obvious while not in words, in implication that attending was my only option.
Things were… honestly nice, despite the present nepotism and blatant favoritism of the teachers to certain students. The living conditions were definitely much better than what I was used to, I also managed to make a few friends and even got assigned to a team.
Things did not last long though, as during a training exercise I managed to awaken my semblance. While sparring against one of the scions of a prominent hunter family, I felt it. As I flexed this new metaphysical muscle, I felt my aura slightly drop, and as I stared at the face of my opponent I could see him become as pale as a sheet of paper.
With a scream he immediately ran away, not even half an hour later, I got called into the headmaster's office. After demonstrating my semblance on some willing subjects, I found out that my semblance 'fear aura' was a Mental-Manipulation type semblance.
A semblance that in everyone's words was, a semblance fitting of a street urchin. The last part was ironically said more by my fellow lower-class attendees as well. During those few days, I noticed everyone I knew started growing more distant. My friends refused to talk to me at times, my own team went out and made plans not including me.
A few days later, I got a letter stating that I had been expelled from Haven for 'incompatibility reasons'. I thought that it was fine, I could enter one of the other academies, I was not that bad of a huntsman trainee after all. The joke was on me though, I had been blacklisted and prevented from attending any of the other academies by who later I found out was the family of the person I first used my semblance on.
Now with no other options, I started wandering about, for a few years I worked as a muscle for different establishments. Making small-time connections and such, the power of aura gave me an edge and preferential treatment anywhere I went. After all, even if only a dropout, an aura-blessed and somewhat trained huntsman was worth more than 10 thugs with dust-powered pistols.
Again, I thought things were looking up by this point, so 'Why is everything around me exploding!?' with another mental scream I jump to the side with aura-enhanced strength, leaping a dozen feet as the whistling of the air closes my previous position.
With a powerful explosion, my aura flares up, blocking pieces of shrapnel as I am flung in the air. With aura helping me not get dust in my vision, I look around seeing explosions and fire raging around me. As I stare at one of the Goons I got assigned to on this post, I bite back a flinch as his body is pierced and disintegrated by an artillery shell. 'Because the weather said it would be raining ordinance in the middle of the fucking desert today!'
Knowing that at some point my luck will run out, I mentally check my aura reserves, 'just about below half.' booking it outside of the settlement, vaulting with my spear above the wooden walls I make my way on the sides of the craters said settlement is located on.
Before I can gather myself, I feel my back get peppered by phantom punches my aura sharply dropping below a third, "Fuck!" quickly jumping back inside the encamp, I take cover behind the wooden walls, quickly repositioning myself I see the place I entered be torn apart by tracer bullets, as they zip by and ricochet from the sandy ground.
Taking a peek through a hole in one of the walls, I just about manage to see someone make their way outside the encampment on a bike. Before being turned into Swiss cheese, the bullets tearing into them and dismembering their limbs.
Before I can take my gaze away from the nausea-inducing sight another explosion erupts just beside me, with the sound of shattering glass in my head, my aura is shattered and I am thrown dozens of feet away. Trying to stand up my arms shaking I lift my head up only to see a shovel right in front of me.
'This is not what I meant by looking up.'
The next thing I know is only the embrace of unconsciousness.
A few minutes earlier
Hans
(Vengaboys - Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! (youtube.com))
'Boom, boom, boom, boom, I want you in my room~'
Sliding my way down the Crater as the tracers of machinegun fire and the explosions of artillery rock the ground, I can't help but hum a song in my head.
Hello everyone! My name is Hans, I used to be known as number 21 before the emperor gave me inspiration through his mysterious ways and granted me my name. I am part of the Death Korps of Krieg, not to be mistaken with the word corps.
'Lets spend the night together~ from now until forever~'
throwing my lasgun in the back of my shoulder as I take my shovel from my back, skipping towards the bandit camp still being bombarded with artillery.
'I wanna go boom boom, let's spend the night together~ Together in my room~'
Anyway, where was I? Ah yes! I am a member of the kriegsmen, currently the only company in existence. At least in this universe, I have been existing for about a week now. And though a short time, oh boy has it been fun!
During this short week, I have been able to do almost ten bayonet charges with my fellow kriegsmen! The best part about it is, we can't die doing them! Though some would view that as an unbearable punishment, the emperor himself has granted our commissar the ability to bring us back so it must be his reward!
'ta ta ta-ta du-du dud'
Making my way inside the wooden walls, I can see plenty of bandits running around like headless chickens. Catching two of them try to turn on some dirt bikes and flee, I sneak behind the closest one. With a swing worthy of a star baseball batter, (whatever that is, the commissar never really explained it.) I hit him on the back of the head.
Throwing only a glance at his buddy, the other guy simply starts his bike and bolts it out of the camp, lifting one of my hands to my brow and leaning on my shovel's handle I observe as he is shredded apart by the machinegun teams.
'Whoa-oh, Whoa-oh, everybody get down'
With an explosion nearby, I can see as body get flung towards me. As he skips and tumbles on the ground right in front of my feet, I wait for him to get his hands under him. As I ready my shovel in a golfing stance, (again, what are these things the Commissar mentions? These are obviously the Krieg shovel forms.) as the guy lifts his head, my shovel is merely inches in front of his face.
With a sharp 'ping~' my shovel makes contact, making his head jerk to the side as well as making a few loose teeth fly. Reaching for my vox-caster I contact Tanya, "Commandant, I have managed to subdue our target!"
With a second of static, I hear, "Affirmative Hans, make your way out of there now." nodding I pick up the unconscious prisoner before I set off I also pick up his spear and begin my trek out of the crater. All while singing one of the sweet tunes the Commissar showed us.
'Krieg-boys are back in town~ Whoa-oh, Whoa-oh'