(Brief OOC. Gonna be a lot of pictures with this dream, mostly to give you a feel for the grimdark world you're jumping into. Good luck, and enjoy it!)
[The dream begins in a huge airship, ribbed on both sides by huge ceramite cages that look almost like bones. You and your fellows are surrounded by a group of men in black armor, over which color-shifting camouflage cloaks are draped. They have long rifles clutched across their chests, and every man-jack of them is wearing a gas hood and rebreather mask. Come to think of it, you are, as well.]
[There is a brief sussurus of speaking amongst the soldiers, both male and female, before a tall man with a red sash and peaked cap stands before them.]
"Men of Tanith and Vervunhive. Tonight we are making an experimental drop-assault on Cirenholm. We've been assigned to the secondary objective, the vapor-mill, while the Urdeshi stormtroopers take the primary hive-spike. We must take the mill, or the entire assault will falter, or worse, the city itself may be destroyed if the gases the vapor mill processes are built up and burst. You've all been training for months on how to rope from the Valkyries, so I trust you'll all make it to the city itself safely. Be aware, our enemy is of a different caliber from the normal chaos scum we deal with. They are
Blood Pact, highly trained, disciplined, and possessed of significantly superior armament compared to the kind of foes you're used to facing. We'll have the drop on them, both literally and figuratively with this assault, but I need you to be aware of any tricks they might pull on the ground. Keep in vox contact with your officers, be sparing with your expenditures of ammunition."
[Gaunt pauses at this, looking over the troops.] "I know we're short-gunned on this. Only 3 magazines per lasrifle is an insultingly small amount. The Munitorium fethed things up, but we'll put it right with straight silver. I expect each of you to bury the knife to the hilt in the hearts of one of these heathen bastards by the end of the assault. Are we clear?"
[After there are nods of assent, Gaunt gestures towards the
Valkyrie assault ships which will ferry the Tanith and yourself into battle. They are beak-nosed combat landers, festooned with rocket launchers, heavy bolters, and laser cannon. ]
[The ride is rough, very rough indeed. You can hear chatter from other Valkyries over the vox-systems, as they are hit, and go down flaming over Cirenholm, diving through the clouds of Phantine into the poisonous gas that makes up most of the atmosphere on the horribly polluted world.]
[The bouncing, dull thuds of flak fire going off nearby can be heard, and anyone near the twin door-guns of the Valkyrie can clearly sea the black puffs from airburst shells being described in the atmosphere outside, and occasionally another drop transport will be smashed by either a direct hit, or take fragments into one of the turbofans, starting a long, slow, meteor-like plummet as the engines catch fire, one after the other. There are no parachutes. There's nothing to drop down to, on Phantine, which is choked by gas, just falling forever, until you go mad, or the corrosive gases melt through your flight suit and end your life. Wind-waste, is the technical term for this kind of death.]
[But another kind of death awaits you all, as
Cirenholm can be viewed more fully now, and the green lights of the cabin go on, indicating a drop is about to start. Tracers hurtle up into a night sky from a hundred defense emplacements, followed by randomly fired red lasbolts, some of which beat a jaunty tattoo against the armored belly of the Valkyrie Transport.]
[At this point the bolters on your craft start to clatter as their ammunition feeds cycle, making a coughing roar as they lay down suppressive fire to
clear the landing Zone, a flat patch of metal on the metallic city-spire you'll all be assaulting in a moment.]
[Gaunt steps to the open hatch, grabbing onto the rope as he prepares to drop to the roofs of Cirenholm.]
"MEN OF TANITH!" [He bellows to you all, his voice crackling over a commbead as his face is concealed by a gas-hood]
"Do you want to live forever?"
[And, before he gets an answer, he's sliding down the rope some 10 meters to the deck.]
(Ooc, start posting at this point and we'll begin the fun.)