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Description
The Charge

Bullet tracers went flying past Cornel Searth Poeut as his command squad ran for cover. Poeut had been in situations a lot worse than the current one in Dassburgh, though he knew that things would only get tougher as the day wore on .
He looked around the archway that his five man command squad was taking cover in and noticed that this was the entrance to the beer-hall where there had been a celebration for the safe arrival of the Ferrox Rangers 1st and 13th companies to Dassburg, a small smile flickered across his face at the memory, which disappeared completely when he realised that Commisar Dyter was watching him for any sign of cowardice or treachery.
There was a sudden explosion and the next thing he knew was that he was laying in the middle of the street and about to be run over by one of the Gourtases primitive tanks.
He rolled left onto his back as the tanks’ tracks went rumbling past on either side and as he looked up at the under-belly of the tank he noticed a leaking fuel pipe to which he easily stuck a dog-bomb, as the tank being so primitive, it was moving slow enough do let him fish out the bomb from one of his side pouches and stick it on.
As the tank rolled away from him he leapt up and sprinted for cover.  Though the Gourtas tank commander noticed him and only managed to fire off one shot from his looted las-pistol before the dog-bomb’s fuse reached its end and the whole tank blew up in an explosion which cleared the street of its barricades.

Poeut pulled out his Bolt-pistol as he ran around the street corner, the las-shot of the tank commanders slamming harmlessly into the street sign on the corner of the road.  The next second the tank blew up spectacularly, though the noise only added to the carcoughiny of explosions sounding throughout the town.
Looking left and right Poeut found himself to be quite alone in this relatively unharmed street, which sloped upwards for about a hundred metres, the only physical evidence that there was a fight going on in the town was the burnt out wreck of one of the Herras Mechanises’ Leman Ruses in the centre of the street. He ran up the street, past the Leman Russ and, panting for breath, practically ran straight into Corporal Herraw of the 9th Jer’mer Dragons, his own company, as the corporal ran out of an alleyway at the head of seven men of which four were Jer’mer Dragons and three were Ferrox Rangers.
The Corporal was well known in the company because of his charismatic nature, and in fact had been chosen personally by Poeut to be promoted to Sergeant as the replacement of Sergeant Gigard, who had died on board the “Diggermark” troop transporter when they had arrived at the planet and been fired on by the then Gourtas controlled orbital station.  Though his promotion had not been announced yet.
A smile crossed Herraw’s face at the site of his usually immaculate Cornel in a tattered, dust-coated uniform and then the next thing they knew was las-fired and needle bullets forming a lethal cross-fire up and down the street and Herraw pulled Poeut unceremoniously into the alleyway as some of the Gourtas saw them at the entrance to the side alley and fired on them.
After another five seconds and there was a fire wall in place at the end of the alleyway, the three Ferrox Rangers kneeing down and taking careful aim at their Gourtas targets whilst the four Jer’mer Dragons stood up behind them blazing away at the enemy with their las-guns on half-auto. Herraw however was now slumped against the wall at Poeut’s feet, screaming as the poison in the three needle bullets he had taken in his back whilst getting Poeut into the alleyway started to take effect.
Cornel Poeut had seen a man die horribly and painfully before, the man had been shot by a single needle bullet, he had been part of the rearguard as they had retreated back to the next line of defence outside Cerrock city and was shot by just one poisoned needle bullet and collapsed, it was only noticed that he was missing once everyone else had been accounted for and it had been too dangerous to have sent out medics to get him because they would have just suffered the same fate.  So they had to listen to the man’s slow death throes until he was shot dead by a Gourtas officer who showed pity on him.
Poeut would not let the same thing happen to Corporal Herraw.  He bent down and picked up the bolt-pistol, which he had dropped.  Then he started shaking Herraw by the shoulders till he was paying full attention to the Cornel and was only whimpering in pain and only then did he ask him, “Do you wish to be given the Emperor’s peace Corporal Herraw?”
“No”, replied Herraw in a determined voice.  Still whimpering he pushed himself up using the wall for support and he then unholestered his auto-pistol, checking that there was a full clip in it, as a tear formed in his eye from the immense pain he was suffering.
The Cornel then looked him in the eyes and said, “Emperor be with you Sergeant Herraw”
And so, still leaning against the wall, Herraw gritted his teeth and burst out of the alleyway, turned, and charged down the street towards the centre of the Gourtas firing line screaming out loud his pain, as if it were some insane war cry to give him strength.  He sprinted straight at them.

The Gourtas line faltered, not sure what to do and at the same time the imperial guard fire line faltered too.  Then the seven men whom had been with Herraw in the alley followed his lead, and with las-guns on full-auto they shouted “For the Emperor!!” and ran down the street from the alleyway, blazing away at the Gourtas line.  This was enough to convince the Imperial Guard officer in charge at the top of the street that it was time to charge down the street at the Gourtas’s fire line as it was undisciplined and in complete disarray.
One Gourtas soldier called De’chas who was the Gourtas army’s equivalent of a sergeant raised his auto-slugger, which was now renowned as a very inaccurate Gourtas weapon but which fired immensely powerful slugs, and took careful aim at the lone soldier charging down the street.  The first shot went wide and De’chas pumped in a new slug, like you would with a shotgun, and fired another shot at the man as another seven men appeared out of the same alleyway.
Herraw loosed off shots as he ran and every bullet killed one of the tightly packed Gourtas infantry soldiers sending the line into even more disarray.  Then all of a sudden a huge slug bullet smashed into his chest plate armour which sent him crashing down to the ground.
De’chas whooped as he saw the Imperial guard trooper take the second slug straight in the chest, which sent him falling down to the ground.  Though the smile vanished from De’chas’s face when he saw the Guardman struggling back to his feet and running at them again. Now trembling with fear, as he had never seen anyone get up before after having taken a direct hit in the chest from his auto-slugger, De’chas fell down onto his knees behind the flimsy barrier which had stopped several las-shots and watched in terror as the trooper charged straight at his part of the barricade and awaited his death at the hands of this soldier.
This did not help the confidence of the other Gourtas soldiers.  Though what really terrified them was the mass of at least eighty men charging down at them from the top of the street with bayonets attached to their las-guns.
The Gourtas broke and ran just before Sergeant Herraw reached them.  The guards men still kept coming down the street, running at high speeds and dogging the wreck of the Leman Russ, almost catching up on the seven men who had been with Herraw in the alleyway.

Herraw leaped the barricade ,his foot kicking the head of a kneeling Gourtas soldier, the force of his entire body slammed the head back, making a sickeningly loud crack as the neck broke.  Stumbling into the mass of Gourtas soldiers, he managed to drawing his combat knife in one practised, flowing motion.  He started slashing this way and that, most of the time the knife would be deflected by flak-armour or the bony crests on their heads or the spines on their backs.  Though he was still managing to kill some of them, shooting off pot-shots with what was left of the ammo in the auto-pistol’s clip and even when it ran out he used it as a club, breaking the noses, crests and back spines of several of the fleeing Gourtas soldiers.
Then the Imperial Guardsmen charged home, bayonets attached to their lasgun’s muzzles they quickly got to work despatching the now terrified Gourtas soldiers, who were, bar a couple, in full rout and running down the street where Cornel Poeut had blown up the Gourtas tank.

Description
The Charge

Bullet tracers went flying past Cornel Searth Poeut as his command squad ran for cover. Poeut had been in situations a lot worse than the current one in Dassburgh, though he knew that things would only get tougher as the day wore on .
He looked around the archway that his five man command squad was taking cover in and noticed that this was the entrance to the beer-hall where there had been a celebration for the safe arrival of the Ferrox Rangers 1st and 13th companies to Dassburg, a small smile flickered across his face at the memory, which disappeared completely when he realised that Commisar Dyter was watching him for any sign of cowardice or treachery.
There was a sudden explosion and the next thing he knew was that he was laying in the middle of the street and about to be run over by one of the Gourtases primitive tanks.
He rolled left onto his back as the tanks’ tracks went rumbling past on either side and as he looked up at the under-belly of the tank he noticed a leaking fuel pipe to which he easily stuck a dog-bomb, as the tank being so primitive, it was moving slow enough do let him fish out the bomb from one of his side pouches and stick it on.
As the tank rolled away from him he leapt up and sprinted for cover.  Though the Gourtas tank commander noticed him and only managed to fire off one shot from his looted las-pistol before the dog-bomb’s fuse reached its end and the whole tank blew up in an explosion which cleared the street of its barricades.

Poeut pulled out his Bolt-pistol as he ran around the street corner, the las-shot of the tank commanders slamming harmlessly into the street sign on the corner of the road.  The next second the tank blew up spectacularly, though the noise only added to the carcoughiny of explosions sounding throughout the town.
Looking left and right Poeut found himself to be quite alone in this relatively unharmed street, which sloped upwards for about a hundred metres, the only physical evidence that there was a fight going on in the town was the burnt out wreck of one of the Herras Mechanises’ Leman Ruses in the centre of the street. He ran up the street, past the Leman Russ and, panting for breath, practically ran straight into Corporal Herraw of the 9th Jer’mer Dragons, his own company, as the corporal ran out of an alleyway at the head of seven men of which four were Jer’mer Dragons and three were Ferrox Rangers.
The Corporal was well known in the company because of his charismatic nature, and in fact had been chosen personally by Poeut to be promoted to Sergeant as the replacement of Sergeant Gigard, who had died on board the “Diggermark” troop transporter when they had arrived at the planet and been fired on by the then Gourtas controlled orbital station.  Though his promotion had not been announced yet.
A smile crossed Herraw’s face at the site of his usually immaculate Cornel in a tattered, dust-coated uniform and then the next thing they knew was las-fired and needle bullets forming a lethal cross-fire up and down the street and Herraw pulled Poeut unceremoniously into the alleyway as some of the Gourtas saw them at the entrance to the side alley and fired on them.
After another five seconds and there was a fire wall in place at the end of the alleyway, the three Ferrox Rangers kneeing down and taking careful aim at their Gourtas targets whilst the four Jer’mer Dragons stood up behind them blazing away at the enemy with their las-guns on half-auto. Herraw however was now slumped against the wall at Poeut’s feet, screaming as the poison in the three needle bullets he had taken in his back whilst getting Poeut into the alleyway started to take effect.
Cornel Poeut had seen a man die horribly and painfully before, the man had been shot by a single needle bullet, he had been part of the rearguard as they had retreated back to the next line of defence outside Cerrock city and was shot by just one poisoned needle bullet and collapsed, it was only noticed that he was missing once everyone else had been accounted for and it had been too dangerous to have sent out medics to get him because they would have just suffered the same fate.  So they had to listen to the man’s slow death throes until he was shot dead by a Gourtas officer who showed pity on him.
Poeut would not let the same thing happen to Corporal Herraw.  He bent down and picked up the bolt-pistol, which he had dropped.  Then he started shaking Herraw by the shoulders till he was paying full attention to the Cornel and was only whimpering in pain and only then did he ask him, “Do you wish to be given the Emperor’s peace Corporal Herraw?”
“No”, replied Herraw in a determined voice.  Still whimpering he pushed himself up using the wall for support and he then unholestered his auto-pistol, checking that there was a full clip in it, as a tear formed in his eye from the immense pain he was suffering.
The Cornel then looked him in the eyes and said, “Emperor be with you Sergeant Herraw”
And so, still leaning against the wall, Herraw gritted his teeth and burst out of the alleyway, turned, and charged down the street towards the centre of the Gourtas firing line screaming out loud his pain, as if it were some insane war cry to give him strength.  He sprinted straight at them.

The Gourtas line faltered, not sure what to do and at the same time the imperial guard fire line faltered too.  Then the seven men whom had been with Herraw in the alley followed his lead, and with las-guns on full-auto they shouted “For the Emperor!!” and ran down the street from the alleyway, blazing away at the Gourtas line.  This was enough to convince the Imperial Guard officer in charge at the top of the street that it was time to charge down the street at the Gourtas’s fire line as it was undisciplined and in complete disarray.
One Gourtas soldier called De’chas who was the Gourtas army’s equivalent of a sergeant raised his auto-slugger, which was now renowned as a very inaccurate Gourtas weapon but which fired immensely powerful slugs, and took careful aim at the lone soldier charging down the street.  The first shot went wide and De’chas pumped in a new slug, like you would with a shotgun, and fired another shot at the man as another seven men appeared out of the same alleyway.
Herraw loosed off shots as he ran and every bullet killed one of the tightly packed Gourtas infantry soldiers sending the line into even more disarray.  Then all of a sudden a huge slug bullet smashed into his chest plate armour which sent him crashing down to the ground.
De’chas whooped as he saw the Imperial guard trooper take the second slug straight in the chest, which sent him falling down to the ground.  Though the smile vanished from De’chas’s face when he saw the Guardman struggling back to his feet and running at them again. Now trembling with fear, as he had never seen anyone get up before after having taken a direct hit in the chest from his auto-slugger, De’chas fell down onto his knees behind the flimsy barrier which had stopped several las-shots and watched in terror as the trooper charged straight at his part of the barricade and awaited his death at the hands of this soldier.
This did not help the confidence of the other Gourtas soldiers.  Though what really terrified them was the mass of at least eighty men charging down at them from the top of the street with bayonets attached to their las-guns.
The Gourtas broke and ran just before Sergeant Herraw reached them.  The guards men still kept coming down the street, running at high speeds and dogging the wreck of the Leman Russ, almost catching up on the seven men who had been with Herraw in the alleyway.

Herraw leaped the barricade ,his foot kicking the head of a kneeling Gourtas soldier, the force of his entire body slammed the head back, making a sickeningly loud crack as the neck broke.  Stumbling into the mass of Gourtas soldiers, he managed to drawing his combat knife in one practised, flowing motion.  He started slashing this way and that, most of the time the knife would be deflected by flak-armour or the bony crests on their heads or the spines on their backs.  Though he was still managing to kill some of them, shooting off pot-shots with what was left of the ammo in the auto-pistol’s clip and even when it ran out he used it as a club, breaking the noses, crests and back spines of several of the fleeing Gourtas soldiers.
Then the Imperial Guardsmen charged home, bayonets attached to their lasgun’s muzzles they quickly got to work despatching the now terrified Gourtas soldiers, who were, bar a couple, in full rout and running down the street where Cornel Poeut had blown up the Gourtas tank.