Matrix Dragon Presents...... Another creation of lack of sleep and too much caffeine... Soldiers of the Imperium A Warhammer 40,000/Anime Fusion, with a few other shows thrown in for good measure. Lots of copyrights. *** In one possible future, mankind ruled the galaxy. With their powerful technology, they created thinking machines, the Iron Men. Together, they forced the alien races back to the very edges of space. Then, the Iron Men turned on their creators. The first human empire was consumed by a massive civil war. When it ended, the Iron Men were no more, but humankind was crippled. While human warmongers made a grab for power, the aliens that had been beaten back attacked, and then, the Gods themselves attacked. The foul Chaos Gods, four demons from the sub-universe known as the Warp. Humanity burned and died for almost five thousand years. But they managed to rebuild, sort of. This is the age of the Imperium, the second human empire, one that has lasted for ten thousand years. Technology is more like magic, with only a small few truly understanding it. They did not create this technology. They scavenged it from the ruins of the old empire. The immortal Emperor is treated as a God, with an entire religion based around him. It is the only religion permitted. Now, mankind is on the brink of destruction. Across the entire galaxy, the Imperium is under attack, by aliens of all types, traitors and rebels, and even the minions of the foul Gods of Chaos. The only thing that holds back the destruction is the various armies of mankind: the genetically enhanced super-humans of the Adeptus Astartes, also known as the Space Marines. The Adepta Sororitas, the female warriors of the Imperial Cult. The Inquisitors, hunting down traitors, heretics and aliens. The Adeptus Mechanicus, the Tech- priests who study the ancient technology and attempt to rebuild it into weapons of war. And of course, the Imperial Guard. The largest army in history. Tens, maybe hundreds of billions of soldiers, fighting across the galaxy. Despite these massive numbers, it is still never enough, and more soldiers are always needed.... *** The planet Tokyo is a rather small world, out of the way of most of the galaxy. The only real problems they have ever had were pirates causing disruptions to trade almost a thousand years ago. They have a small planetary defence force, and a few ships from the Imperial Navies for defence. In the year M41.975, some general decided to make a play for power. He took control of almost half the Tokyo Defence Force, and attempted to take over the planet. After a year of heavy fighting, he was finally defeated. After looking at how the loyal TDF handled the crisis, it was decided that Tokyo would supply three regiments to the Imperial Guard. They began recruiting almost instantly, and by the end of the year, almost ten thousand men and women were waiting to board the troopships in orbit. *** Ranma Saotome looked out of the viewport, watching as the planet below him began to shrink. He still couldn't really accept that he'd never see it again. In his mind, he knew and understood it, but his heart wasn't listening. "Still kinda hard to believe, isn't it?" a voice said. Ranma looked up to see Lina Inverse standing there. They had both been assigned to the same squad, under an absolute jerk of a sergeant. Back on Tokyo, they'd both been wanderers, travelling the world, and had quickly become friends after meeting each other a few days ago. "Yeah, it is hard to believe," he replied. "I still can't really accept that we'll never see it again. I'm sure I did the right thing signing up though." Lina nodded. "It's not like there's much back there for us." She sat down next to him. "Take me. I built up such a reputation that I couldn't enter a city without some wanna-be trying to beat me to show how great he was." "I had a similar problem," Ranma replied. "My old man was a big con-man. Scammed so many people it ain't funny. And a lot of them came after me!" He growled. "Turns out the old fool engaged me to about ten different girls." "Yeowch," Lina muttered. "That really sucks. How'd he think he could... wow, would ya look at that!" "Huh?" Ranma glanced out the window again. Tokyo could no longer be seen, as the transport had rotated, and they were now looking at a massive vessel, floating in the void. Larger then the entire city of Nerima, the vessel was long and thin. On what was undoubtedly the top of the craft, what looked like a hundred churches rose up, gun emplacements on the tower. Weapons batteries and landing bays ran along the side of the ship, before ending at a large armoured plate that covered the front of the craft. At the rear, powerful engines glowed a dull blue. "That's the Emperor's Touch," Lina said. "I've seen the picts, but the real thing...." She simply let her voice trail off. She didn't need to finish the statement. Ranma understood what she meant perfectly. *** Soon, their shuttle had landed on their transport ship, some vessel that Ranma didn't know the name of. They left the shuttle, and soon found themselves turning over their weapons at security. "Turn over all firearms, and state your name and rank, family names first," a bored officer said. Ranma placed his lasgun and two pistols on the table. "Saotome Ranma, Trooper." Lina placed her lasgun, a saw-off shotgun and an old autopistol on the table. "Inverse Lina, Trooper." Behind them, the rest of the squad went through the same thing, although Ranma noticed that the sergeant didn't turn over an autopistol hidden in his fatigues. After that, they were shown to their bunks, told where they were allowed to go, before they were left alone, with nothing to do until the rest of the troops boarded. *** Almost a day later, several troop carriers, along with several ships as escorts, left Tokyo and set off across the galaxy, to one of the countless war-zones. *** "This is Redermade," General Soun Tendo said to the assembled officers. "Ten months ago the planetary governor broke away from Imperial rule, and since then Imperial Guard forces have been attempting to retake the planet. The planet is a hive world, and the governor was able to turn the majority of the natives to his side. So far, Guard forces have retaken one of the hive cities and are using it as a staging ground. We will be reinforcing the Dalen 4th, which have suffered serious losses on the front line." A section of the map on the viewscreen behind the General glowed red, indicating the area the Tokyo Regiments would be deployed in. "First Regiment, companies one through six will deploy here," Tendo continued, as a subsection of the red area flashed blue. "Our armoured company, Seventh company, will remain in reserve, ready to support an offensive. Second Regiment will deploy here. Third Regiment will deploy along this last section. Colonel Rezo and Colonel Miller will determine the arrangements for their own regiments. We arrive at Redermade in two weeks. I want our men as ready as possible. Take a good look at the intel data you've been given. I want Tokyo to get a reputation as Guardsman who do what they're meant to do. I don't want us to lose this battle. Do I make myself clear?" "Yes sir!" The officers replied. "Good. Dismissed." *** Lina was in the ships entertainment area, playing the latest flight sim, 'Alien Hunter.' The original was something cooked up by a techpriest years ago. Although the techpriest had been punished for experimenting in technology that the authorities believed was best left forgotten, a decade later they decided that it was useful as a propaganda tool. After all, if all the enemy aircraft are as weak as a wet piece of paper, it helps convince the public how powerful the Imperium is, right? Lina didn't care about any of that. What mattered to her was that there was a high score on this machine that matched her best. She'd be damned if she was going to let that stand! Ranma, several guardsman and a few crewmen watched as she flew her Lightning around several explosions, before opening fire with her autocannon, reducing an Ork fighta-bomber to tin-foil. From the ground below her, several Ork Big Gunz started blasting away. Lina banked left, then launched a missile, wiping the Gunz from existence. Her score climbed. Now came the traditional end of level boss. An Ork Gargant, a giant robot in the distorted image of an Ork. The Servitor in her aircraft located several weak points on the death machine. Each location had a different points value, based on difficulty. Most gamers went for the easy targets. Lina on the other hand, opened up the turbines and raced past the machine, before coming back around for an attack run. Las-fire sped forward from the Lightning's wing-tips, tearing apart the Gargants back armour as it turned to face her. She sped past, peppering the head section with autocannon fire, then performed an Immelmann, bringing her about for another attack. The Gargants mouth opened, revealing a large energy cannon preparing to fire. Lina launched her last rocket straight down it's throat before pulling up and powering up the turbines to max. The screen cut to a pre-made clip of the fighter launching into space, with the Gargant blowing apart underneath it. Lina's score skyrocketed. Ranma smirked. "Enjoying yourself, ain't you?" he asked. "Damn straight," Lina replied. "Who knows when I'll get to play one of these things again. Might as well enjoy it while I can. Hey, anyone know if this is like the real thing?" "Not even close," a navy pilot said. "The game has ten, maybe twelve buttons. The real things have nearly a hundred different controls. And Gargants are a lot more dangerous then that." "Ouch," Lina commented. "I'll stick to the life of a footslogger, me thinks. Oooh, Eldar. I love pounding on these guys!" *** And so time passed on the frigate Pioneer. Over the next two weeks, life for the Guardsmen consisted of heavy training, sleep, and relaxing. In her time off, Lina made the arcade her second home, quickly putting the old high scores to shame. Ranma came in a close second, but spent a lot of time in the gyms, sparing with other trained fighters from both the Navy and Tokyo. Soon, there was only a day before the Tokyo regiments would enter the battlefields of Redermade. Ranma found himself sitting in an observatory, looking out over the void of space. They had dropped out of Warp space and re-entered normal reality just over an hour ago, and Ranma was hoping to see this world they'd be fighting on. "Ah, so this is where you've been hiding," a voice said. Ranma glanced up to see Tenchi Masaki, a trooper from second platoon, walking towards him, Lina not far behind. He'd met Tenchi in the gym, where the pair had had a number of sparring matches. "Just admiring the view," he said. "What about you two?" "Looking for you actually," Lina said. "We're to be on our transports at 1400 hours." "That gives us-" Ranma checked his watch, "-another ten hours. What's the rush?" "Word is the rebels launched a major offensive. The Guardsmen down there took a beating," Tenchi said. The swordsman looked out the large viewport. "That's a nice view." "Peaceful too. Lap it up guys, we might not get to see it again." Lina and Tenchi pulled up some seats. "Hey Tenchi, I've been meaning to ask you, where'd you come from? Back on Tokyo, I mean." "I'm from outside Juuban, on the North continent," Tenchi replied. "My grandfather was a minor noble of some sort, who grew tired of all the politics and faked his death. Then he had a daughter, who married my father, an architect. Mother died when I was little, and after the woman I loved died, I decided to join the Planetary Defence Force, and the Guard from there. There wasn't really much left for me there. I didn't really want to follow in my fathers footsteps, and Grandfathers old career had too many problems in it, so I decided to make my own." Lina nodded. "It was really the same sorta choice for me. I'm sure you heard all the stories about the deadly Lina Inverse, the adventurer who defeated evil criminals and heretics all the time." Both men nodded. "After a while, it became too much. I couldn't go anywhere without being recognized. I'd gotten a reputation as a trouble magnet, so people either avoided me, or tried to defeat me so they could look big and strong. I had to get away from it all. When the government declared they were raising Guard regiments, I realized that this was my best chance to get away from the madness and just be some soldier. Besides, there really wasn't much for me back there." She turned her attention to Ranma. "What about you Saotome? You've mentioned a few bits and pieces before." Ranma sighed. "When I was a kid, Pops took me off on this training trip. We spent the next ten years travelling across Tokyo, until some of his past caught up with him. Namely, the fact he had ripped off countless shop owners, and engaged we to at least ten girls!" Ranma growled, and Lina and Tenchi sighed. "Anyway, the last thing I saw of him was some guy in one of those powered suits you see on docks for heavy lifting attacking him. We got separated, and I realized that the only way to avoid having all the problems there was to simply sign up." "I guess we all have that in common," Tenchi said. The others looked at him. "We didn't really have anything for us back home, and we wanted to leave our pasts behind." Ranma nodded. "Yeah, well let's see how long our new lives last before we get too comfortable." *** Redermade was a Hive world. That is, a planet with giant cities containing tens of millions of people. The total population was over currently estimated at over twenty billion, and had been closer to forty before the Imperial Navy reduced several Hive cities to rubble. As Ranma stepped off the transport craft, he noted that it really was just some dirtball with every natural resource drain dry. "What does the Imperium want with a junk heap like this?" he muttered. "Mankind must remain united," a Commissar said, "and those that would seek to destroy our hard-earned unity must be punished, as a lesson. Both to them, and to others that would follow in their footsteps." Ranma glanced at the political officer. "Uh, right. Thanks so very much." He turned to Lina. "I hate the propaganda answers," he muttered. "Move it you lot!" The sergeant yelled. "Into the trucks!" *** "The Tokyo's are a rather new regiment," General Parker of the Cadian 21st said. "They haven't had time to get a high opinion of themselves like many other regiments." "That is true, but I have a major problem with them," replied Colonel Nowles of the Valhallen 15th. "Women in combat? What a joke." "Have you forgotten the Adepta Sororitas?" Commissar Barnes asked. "Those warriors are all women. The females of the Tokyo Regiments prove their worth to the Emperor just as much as the men. I admire their devotion." "We'll see how much you admire it after they see combat," Nowles replied. "Where are they being deployed anyway?" *** "What a dump," Ranma Saotome commented. He was right. The battleground was hit hard by almost a year of constant war here, leaving most of the place mud, mixed with a good helping of blood. The mud was about a foot deep, which made for fun trenches. "Could be worse," Lina Inverse replied. "Yeah, how?" "I'm still thinking on that one." "Move it you two," their sergeant growled. Ranma barely refrained from hitting the man. Dilgear was so hairy it almost looked like fur, and had the personality of a wolf. He bossed around anyone lower ranked then him, and kissed the ass of anyone higher ranked. The squad walked down the trenches, until they were given their billets. Some of the troopers, mostly city kids, were disgusted by the sleeping arrangements. Ranma and Lina had more experience with bad beds, and set up without a single complaint. *** Tenchi was manning a Heavy Bolter gun emplacement, cup of caffeine in his hands. The night had passed without incident, and the Tokyo Regiments were beginning their life as guardsmen. He'd spent the last four hours on this metal tower, watching for enemy movement. So far, he was bored. Nothing had happened. Not that he minded that, oh no. He'd like to keep it boring if possible. "Yo, Masaki." Tenchi looked down from the tower to see a guardsman climbing the ladder. "Hey Bill. You get the food?" "Yeah. How much longer we stuck up here?" "Another two hours. Want a cup?" "Sure thing. Thanks." Just as Tenchi bent down, there was a distant ping. When he turned around, Bills body slumped to the ground, part of his head missing. Tenchi leapt for the Heavy Bolter. "We're under attack!" he yelled into his comm-link. Through the weapons scope he saw figures in the distance. "Enemy infantry at five hundred metres out!" He squeezed down on the trigger, launching a barrage of large calibre shells off into the distance. None hit, although the rebels dove for cover. Las-fire emerged from almost four hundred metres out. The attack had begun. *** Ranma flicked the safety off on his lasgun, then rested it on top of the trench for a look through his scope. The rebels were still four hundred metres out, too far for las-fire to have any effect, but at least he'd know where to shoot. Suddenly, a tiny flash of light whizzed past his head, turning a tiny glob of mud to steam and dirt. Ranma dropped back into the trench. All that weakened blast would have done was given him a slight rash if it hit, but it was still startling. "Shit! I guess this is it," he muttered. Lina nodded, and loaded a fuel tank into her flamer. "Let's make Tokyo proud." "We fire as soon as they're in range!" Sergeant Dilgear growled. "Don't waste your ammo. Single shots, highest setting. Inverse, switch to your lasgun until they're close. Open fire on my signal." Ramna adjusted his gun, rested it against the trench. Looking through his scope, he targeted one of the rebels. Bland and dull in his grey body armour, he was to be Ranma's first kill. His finger rested on the trigger, waiting. Then his world went up in fire. *** Tenchi glanced to the right. Almost twenty metres down the trenches, a mortar shell had landed right in the middle of a squad. "What was I thinking?" he muttered, sweeping the Heavy Bolter across the approaching infantry. Through the bulky scope on top of the gun he saw a two man weapons crew, reloading a mortar launcher. "Gotcha," he growled, spraying the area with the heavy rounds. Both men dropped, spraying blood. Tenchi swung the gun away, blocking out the image. "Washuu-chan was nothing compared to this!" Suddenly, his gun moaned and stopped firing. "Huh? Ammo jam!" Quickly, he removed the ammo-belt, pulled out the jammed round, reattached the ammo-belt and started firing again. *** Ranma climbed to his feet. Most of the squad was doing the same thing. Three of them remained on the ground. Sergeant Dilgear was one of them. The city-kids were freaking, Ranma noticed. Lina and those recruited from the TDF were pulling themselves together, but that left two people ready to run. "Pull yourself together!" He yelled. "If you run, you'll be remembered as cowards! Back on Tokyo your families will consider you nothing but fools that pretended to be soldiers, then wimped out at the first sign of trouble." "If we stay here we'll die," one of them replied. "If you run away you'll die! Either by a firing squad or a Commissar shooting you in the back of the head. You won't get to choose either. The only chance you have at surviving is to fight. All of you, open fire!" Ranma led by example, firing at approaching infantry. Lina followed up, with the rest of the squad close behind. In the distance, grey-coloured soldiers began to drop. Some of those hit got back up, as las-fire was rather weak at these ranges. Enemy las-fire impacted against the trench, sending up puffs of mud. Ranma dropped down to reload, then saw one of the corpses clutching the squads rocket launcher. Dropping the lasgun, he grabbed the bulky weapon and checked it. "Fire in the hole!" he yelled as the rest of the squad backed off. He squeezed the trigger. A small missile launched forward, raced across no-mans land, and detonated in the middle of a rebel squad. "Reload," Ranma ordered, popping open the launcher. One of the troopers tossed him another frag missile. He aimed at another squad and fired. More rebels died. Suddenly Lina screamed and dropped to the trench floor. Her upper right arm was badly injured by a las-shot. The heat of the beam had cauterised the wound, but she was still in a lot of pain. Ranma tossed the launcher to another soldier and pulled her out off the mud. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Hurts like hell," she replied through gritted teeth, "but I can still fire a lasgun." Ranma helped her to her feet, and she grabbed her lasgun from where it had fallen. *** The Heavy Bolter ran out of ammo at last. Tenchi grabbed his lasgun and leapt off the tower. Below him, the rest of his squad blazed away, cutting down the enemy. "Bolter's dry," he said to the platoon commander, some Lieutenant by the name of Zolf. "Get your lasgun and form up with your squad," Zolf replied. He turned his attention to the comm-link in his hands. "Company command, this is second platoon command. Rebel infantry attack on our position has stalled. Request armoured support to push them back." Tenchi flicked off the safety on his lasgun and ran towards his squad. Then he stopped as he saw a flash of light in the distance. "What the?" *** "Oh shit," Ranma muttered. "Tanks!" He glanced at the squad. "Where's the comm-set?" One of the men stopped shooting and handed him the headset. "Company command, this is first platoon first squad. We have tanks approaching our position." "1-1 this is company command, can you get an estimate on the number of tanks and their make?" "Checking now." Ranma risked looking over the edge of the trench. "I count six Leman Russ Main Battle Tanks, two Leman Russ Exterminators, and a Leman Russ Demolisher. No sign of any tanks based off Chimera designs." "Understood 1-1. We are directing armoured vehicles to your position." "Great," Ranma muttered as the line went dead. "Well, until they get here.... KILL ANYTHING THAT MOVES!" *** Several tanks trundled forward, painted in the dark grey of the rebels. The mud and dirt didn't slow them down in any way. In fact, the only thing slowing them down was that they didn't want to outpace the infantry and be left open to an attack. In the lead tank, the commander of the attack group barked out a series of orders, both to infantry and armour alike. Glancing out of a thin slot, the commander saw the trench ahead, and a steady stream of las-fire that came from it. "Fire on that trench," he ordered. "Units 12 through 17, prepare to assault the breach." *** Ranma fired on full auto into the approaching infantry, cutting them down even as they tried to find cover. Then he saw the Leman Russ Demolisher turn towards them, it's short-range cannon taking aim. "Move!" he yelled, running down the trench. The other guardsmen bolted. With a roar like thunder, the section of trench exploded, knocking Ranma off his feet. A body landed nearby. It was holding the squads missile launcher. Ranma grabbed it, as well as an unarmed krak missile that had landed nearby. Loading the launcher, he fired off a shot at the Demolisher. The shell detonated harmlessly against the thick frontal armour of the tank. "Have we got anything that'll get through that armour?" he growled. "Third squad had a Lascannon, but I think it got blasted," Lina replied, tossing him another Krak missile. "Try to hit the vision slit." She tossed away her lasgun and got her flamer ready. Ranma aimed and fired. The missile hit near the vision slit at the front of the tank, but didn't seem to do any damage. Suddenly, the tank went up in a massive fireball, shrapnel killing a number of rebels. Ranma glanced behind him to see a Destroyer Tank Hunter, its powerful Laser Destroyer Cannon smoking. The Imperial Armour had arrived. *** With the arrival of the Armour to support First Company, it quickly became a case of blow the other side up first. The rebels were at a disadvantage. Their tanks were in the open, exposed to the weaponry of the Imperial Guard. The advance of the rebel infantry stalled, giving the Guardsmen time to cut down more of them with las-fire. And when they finally closed in, Lina and other troopers were waiting for them with flamers. While almost a hundred burned, the rest retreated, their morale destroyed with the last blows. Many more were cut down as they ran. *** Ranma removed the dog tags from the dead guardsmen, then had others stack the bodies on carts. They'd be taken away from the front lines to prevent infection. The bodies of the rebels in no mans land were a different story. Anyone that tried to move those bodies would most likely be shot by enemy snipers. They pushed the corpses about three metres away from the trenches with their weapons, tools and such, but that was all they could do. "Trooper Saotome?" Ranma glanced up to see the platoon lieutenant standing there. He snapped to attention. "At ease. I understand it was you that took command of this squad after Sergeant Dilgear was killed?" "Yes sir." "Good job. Effective immediately, you're promoted to corporal and placed in command of this squad. Understand?" "Y-yes sir," Ranma stammered. "Good. Report to me in two hours with full details on your squads current combat efficiency." As the Lieutenant walked off, Lina slapped him on the back. "Way to go sir!" she yelled. "Gee, thanks, I think," he replied. "You're my second in command. I buy it, you take over, got it?" "Sure. Real confident about your life span, ain't you?" "Take a look at Dilgear and then see if you feel confident," Ranma replied. "Good point," Lina muttered. Ranma looked out over no mans land. According to the Imperium religion, war was a vital part of the galaxy. Mankind had to fight to defend themselves against the alien horrors that threatened humanities very existence. Ranma thought. If it wasn't humans he was killing, maybe it would be all right. All that mattered was that here, man was fighting man, for a wasteland that had no purpose. And as he thought about it, Ranma wondered just what he was thinking when he enlisted. *** End part one *** In the next instalment of Soldiers of the Imperium, we see the Tokyo Regiments begin to settle in. Corporal Saotome learns just why command sucks, and another rebel attack extends into the trenches themselves. *** Authors Notes: This one came after reading the Gaunt's Ghost series by Dan Abnett. These books are good for any fans of sci-fi and war, even if you don't like the Warhammer 40,000 table-top game. After this, I watched Ranma 1/2 The Movie, and a bit of Slayers, then Saving Private Ryan, and then this just popped into my head. Put familiar characters in the warzones of the Imperium and watch what happened. With this story, I'm not going for the humor of Ranma, or the magical mayhem of Slayers or anything else. In the Imperium, war is everywhere, and death close by. This is going to be pretty serious, and more so as time goes on. There will be moments of humor of course, but not as many as the anime some of the characters are originally from. Matrix Dragon "The distinction between Trade and Warfare is seen only by those who have no experience of either." - Heironymo Sondar, House Sondar.