Sunday 15 November 2015

From the personal journal of Bruce Wolf

Bloody hell. Meeting someone again that you have not seen in ten bloody years is always going to be awkward, but seeing Ivar again after so long was definitely a right mess.

Me and Ivar knew each other from back in the early Steel Wolf days. The pair of us trained together and it’s fair to say that there was a bit of a rivalry between us. I mean, we were not at each other’s throats all the time, but we definitely did get along like a house on fire. And while we ended up in different Trinaries, I could tell that he was always looking to have a go at me. And when he got left behind I knew that he’d be mad as a cut snake.

So when I ran into him ten years later, I knew that there was going to be a bit of blue happening there. I mean he did not immediately spit the dummy at me, but I knew he was not going to be happy about going from Clan Warrior to Cut Lunch Commando and then all the way to Dole Bludger while I at least got a shot at getting all grouse on Terra, Skye and wherever else. I mean, even if it did not work out as planned, I got to have a go while all he did was pick his nose.


Now while he didn’t immediately have a bit of biffo at me, I was worried that it was going to come sooner or later. And when I learned that not only was he going to get to lead us into Fenris Keep but also wanted me to come along as well (on the grounds that I was a “local expert” as well, as if it was not all a load of bunk) sounded more like he wanted to have a go at me for leaving him behind to dole bludge for the rest of his life.

So we set out in one of the unit’s jeeps, meeting Ivar and following his directions, which lead us into a run-down graveyard that looked like he was having a bit of a pig’s arse with us. Turned out that one of the Mausoleums in the place was actually the entrance to an old League-era tunnel that went under Fenris lake and had lead to the original fort what had been there centuries ago. Say what you like about the bloody Camerons, but they knew how to build a bloody good brick outhouse; the place was intact and, save for a bit of damp caused by being under a bloody lake for centuries, was pretty much perfect.

Turns out the SLDF liked their secret passages; this had been some sort of secret emergency exit to the fort that had survived when it was nuked back in the first SW (Told you they built them like brick outhouses) and had been built over by the Wolves later. Ivar and a couple of other drongos had found it and were using it to sneak out and have a barney at the Fight Club back in the say, but they never told anyone about it. So when the Cappies took over Fenris, they never even knew it was there.

Turns out there’s a good reason for that; the actual exit to the tunnel is half-collapsed and a bit tight. We could just make it through two at a time, but if Will or Maria had been there then it would have been a right squeeze. On the other side of it was Fenris keep proper, in this case a disused storage room with a metal cabinet shoved in front of a half-collapsed wall that was their way in and out. I have no bloody idea how anyone found it in the first place as the room looked like it had never been touched since the first day Fenris was built, but I was not about to argue.

We set out into the keep proper, which was a right maze oif old hallways that Ivar assured us was leading somewhere. I remained dubious -  it seemed morel ike he had roos in the top paddock then he actually knew what he was doing - but we actually manafed to end up in one of the main armouries. Seems the Cappies had been as busy as blowies; the place was filled with ammunition and equipment that they were unloading from civillian marked shipping crates and then reloading into ones with Feddie-based markings. That fit the profile we knew of those Ijori bastards; they were probably shipping the gear to target worlds so they could tie up the Fed forces.

However, Lee had an idea, one that involved him, a bomb and a bunch of inferno munitions. He had a go at one of the workers, stealing his uniform and then getting down to the bizzo. One bit of nice work later he was in and out with a remote detonated bomb planted in among the Cappie weapons, giving them a bit of a nice pressie to find on Christmas morning. We did not chose to set it off straight away, but rather headed off to get more of an eyeful of the place.

The main ‘Mech hanger had also changed a bit since I was last here. Again the Cappies had done some reno work on the joint, and had filled the bays up with IndustrialMechs, of all things. However, the sneaky bastards were busy chopping them up and arming them, but also outfitting them with dummy work gear so again they could infiltrate them onto Feddie worlds. What a bunch of gits.

Randy decided that he was going to be a bit posh too, and mangec to get his hands on a CCAF uniform and rifle. He and Lee were gonna go have a burl ast the Tractor Farm, but got stopped by a patrol who wanted to know whrre they were from and what was going on. Unfortrnately, Lee had a bit of a brain fart which resulted in him getitng sprung by CCAF guys demanding to know wheat was going on.

Takahashi decided to solve the situation by having a right Wobbly, running screaming at the Caps with his Vibrokatana and chopping them up like snags on a bun. Of course, the Cappies got off a distress call first, so the whole place lit up with alarms and the full show. We knew that they were onto us and that we needed to get out of there, but Ivar was having a burl at us and wanted to do to the Caps first. We managed to talk him down and try to make a break for it. Me, I was worried he was going to get all aggro on us, never a good situation for a man with a shotty.

So we decided to do the dash, but that lead us into an Ijori patrol. There was a definite bit of biffo there; both me and Randy caught shots that could have been a lot worse if we were less lucky or they could shoot straighter. We got through with a bit of creative sword-waving from Takahashi, at which point it was suggested that Lee set off his bomb and give the mugs something else to think about. He did that, which resulted in more then a bit of a blow-up - not gonna lie, I nearly cacked my daks - but was enough to get the Cappies off our backs.

So we ducked into the Wombat Hole and dashed back to the graveyard; just to make sure, however, Lee had left another little parting gift wired up to the cabinet, just in case the Cappies wanted to go rooting after us or whatever else. Instead we got out and could see that even in the distance, Fenris was nicely lit up. And even if we did not get all we wanted, I would say that it was a pretty bloody good trip out.

Only problem now is that Ivar wants off the planet, and used passage with us as a way of buying our little expedition there. He’s also still making a stink over our not doing more to the Cappies at Fenris. I cannot think what else he wants; we roasted the place up like a right varbie, and he thinks that’s not enough. On top of all that, I am still worried that he is going to do something. He might be a total whacker, but he is no drongo, and that is what makes it worse.


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