urgency
"What are you doing?"
"Awaiting with urgency, this doing nothing is driving me bonkers..."
"Ah, lad, welcome to our daily ration! We always await with great urgency just like this in this squad."
"And there's just six of you?"
"Six per heavy weapons squad yes, takes too much ammo for a full ten people. Or at least, most beancounters would rather have two half-strength squads, in two places, than one full strength squad, in one place."
"What does your colonel think?"
"She delegates this particular decision down to the captain."
"Oh? How's he?"
"She. You've met one of the only male officers in the place, in his tank."
"You don't talk like she's female..."
"Oh, and how should I talk about her, since she is?"
"I dunno, just sound like you lost a fistfight to her."
"Cyn's the regiment's unarmed combat instructor... If you want to see if you can win, bring money..." He whispered. "Tempestus."
"Whoa, she's storm-trooper?"
"Was, until she joined the regiment."
"Brzkrkh."
"Repeat, Venison seven, repeat please."
"Venison seven to Redhead Two, acknowledge."
"Redhead Two acknowledges, Venison seven, where do you need us?"
"March up, between Blue Vixen and Green Tea, try not to be pinched, cover their rear. Mind the stalk-tanks."
"Acknowledged, Venison seven, are we weapons-free?"
"Only free on hardened targets, Redhead two, I don't mind if you don't bring any ammo back, but I'll mind if you run out shooting crunchies... That includes our guests, don't run out, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
"Aye-aye. Redhead two out."
"What's with the codename? I thought you were the storm heavies?"
"We're going to switch to the Hurricanes, actually, but this is theatre radio discipline, too many chaos-heads can listen in on regular low gothic. And that might include encrypted channels, but not all of them, we think. At any rate, every day every squad gets its own codename from a list drawn up by tacticus."
"By squad? Sheesh, micro-manage much?"
"Boss-budget wasn't a euphemism... But if it makes you feel better, it's not referring to money..."
"Wait, if not money, what is it referring to?"
"Lives, we're all line items in her budget, she'll spend us, but we trust her not to spend us lightly... If you stay here long enough, you'll see."
"Well, I knew you guys were the 8th thousand founding..."
"Yeah, of a regiment that goes back to pre-unification Terra..."
"So how old is a founding, on average?"
"Single-digits, maybe just under five..."
"Five years?"
"Yup, double the regimental average for crunchies without full mechanized support."
"Oh. Yeah, naked will do that to you... So the Chimeras I saw were only for engineers?"
"For now. Some of the officers want us to get mechanized trappings and training."
"Oh? Any particular reason?"
"I heard they said when the artillery support is close support, you need to be inside armor... I thought it was funny."
"Quiet down, you see that ledge Ra?"
"Affirmative."
"You and Reíður there."
"Aye-aye."
"Heavy Weapons Specialist Conor McMurrayand Heavy Weapon Specialist Euan Gibson on this side of the hillock, covering, overlapping areas of fire."
"And you two Heavy Weapons Specialist Blaudio Eniwa and Heavy Weapons Specialist Hyung-wook Te mataunu that side, same thing, you all know this drill..."
"Manfred1 and Manfred2, you're on close up duties with those promethium projectors of yours. Make sure no one gets to our friends."
"And where you going?"
"Back with my Velites. We're still short a few officers in HQ company." And so she walked, literally, twenty paces, where she joined the heaviest infantry Manfred had seen in the regiment. Long flag jackets, webbing, black ceramite armor, arm-thrown javelins in an oversized set of containers, which Manfred knew meant those were hand-thrown explosive javelins. Per regulations, those throwing had to have thrown such a heavy weapon a set distance in competition. Here on Urdesh, sports competitions were unknown, but not on earth. He wondered if any of those throwers were actual athletes, repurposed, some looked the type. Their commanding officer, the one who'd told Manfred and Manfred where to wait, had an actual power sword, Tempestus issue apparently. But she wasn't with the units that had been named in their orders, indeed, both 'velites' and Hurricanes were waiting behind Green Tea, to the left, and Blue Vixen to the right. Fischer(he'd been in a team with the other so long, they both used last names, even with each other) moved to where he could converse with @[Reíður:21673f06-b884-4c6f-aa60-53f719965a55) without their weapons our routines interfering with one another.
"What's she and her mob here for?"
"Breakthrough exploitation, although some of those mark eights are actually recoilless rifles disguised as hand-thrown lances..."
"Oh, recoilless, right. Besides our friends in front, do we have any support?"
"Third and fourth, today."
"Third and fourth what?"
"Articllery Battery, earthshakers..."
"How close dare they fire to crunchies?"
"Surprisingly close, I told you, they're close support..."
"Did anyone ever tell your officers that's a good way for crunchies to go splat?"
"Hasn't happened in weeks, perfect record, despite shooting close..."
"You don't run these kinds of risks without some payout..."
"They're trying to catch up to first and second in kill count..."
"What's that like? Platoon each?"
"First and second have an armoured regiment, and six mechanized companies apiece."
"Since founding?"
"Since in-theatre. Double that since founding."
"Frak me, what do you need throwers for?"
"I suspect we'll find out, there's only eight batteries, and they're only usually firing two at a time..."
"Oh, expensive?"
"Well, that, and the fact that the shot is larger than a bull aurochs, so fitting a basilisk magnus with ordnance isn't that easy..."
"You got magnus? Can I see?"
"Point your field glasses towards our rear, you can maybe make out the front one... Then get back to waiting urgently..."
"Aye-aye. You guys been dating long?"
"What?"
"You and Ra? Nevermind, none of my business."
"That obvious huh? What about you and Manfred?"
"What?"
"Most guys in our regiment won't notice, but I can tell when the boys are fraternizing..."
"Awaiting with urgency, this doing nothing is driving me bonkers..."
"Ah, lad, welcome to our daily ration! We always await with great urgency just like this in this squad."
"And there's just six of you?"
"Six per heavy weapons squad yes, takes too much ammo for a full ten people. Or at least, most beancounters would rather have two half-strength squads, in two places, than one full strength squad, in one place."
"What does your colonel think?"
"She delegates this particular decision down to the captain."
"Oh? How's he?"
"She. You've met one of the only male officers in the place, in his tank."
"You don't talk like she's female..."
"Oh, and how should I talk about her, since she is?"
"I dunno, just sound like you lost a fistfight to her."
"Cyn's the regiment's unarmed combat instructor... If you want to see if you can win, bring money..." He whispered. "Tempestus."
"Whoa, she's storm-trooper?"
"Was, until she joined the regiment."
"Brzkrkh."
"Repeat, Venison seven, repeat please."
"Venison seven to Redhead Two, acknowledge."
"Redhead Two acknowledges, Venison seven, where do you need us?"
"March up, between Blue Vixen and Green Tea, try not to be pinched, cover their rear. Mind the stalk-tanks."
"Acknowledged, Venison seven, are we weapons-free?"
"Only free on hardened targets, Redhead two, I don't mind if you don't bring any ammo back, but I'll mind if you run out shooting crunchies... That includes our guests, don't run out, this is a marathon, not a sprint.
"Aye-aye. Redhead two out."
"What's with the codename? I thought you were the storm heavies?"
"We're going to switch to the Hurricanes, actually, but this is theatre radio discipline, too many chaos-heads can listen in on regular low gothic. And that might include encrypted channels, but not all of them, we think. At any rate, every day every squad gets its own codename from a list drawn up by tacticus."
"By squad? Sheesh, micro-manage much?"
"Boss-budget wasn't a euphemism... But if it makes you feel better, it's not referring to money..."
"Wait, if not money, what is it referring to?"
"Lives, we're all line items in her budget, she'll spend us, but we trust her not to spend us lightly... If you stay here long enough, you'll see."
"Well, I knew you guys were the 8th thousand founding..."
"Yeah, of a regiment that goes back to pre-unification Terra..."
"So how old is a founding, on average?"
"Single-digits, maybe just under five..."
"Five years?"
"Yup, double the regimental average for crunchies without full mechanized support."
"Oh. Yeah, naked will do that to you... So the Chimeras I saw were only for engineers?"
"For now. Some of the officers want us to get mechanized trappings and training."
"Oh? Any particular reason?"
"I heard they said when the artillery support is close support, you need to be inside armor... I thought it was funny."
"Quiet down, you see that ledge Ra?"
"Affirmative."
"You and Reíður there."
"Aye-aye."
"Heavy Weapons Specialist Conor McMurrayand Heavy Weapon Specialist Euan Gibson on this side of the hillock, covering, overlapping areas of fire."
"And you two Heavy Weapons Specialist Blaudio Eniwa and Heavy Weapons Specialist Hyung-wook Te mataunu that side, same thing, you all know this drill..."
"Manfred1 and Manfred2, you're on close up duties with those promethium projectors of yours. Make sure no one gets to our friends."
"And where you going?"
"Back with my Velites. We're still short a few officers in HQ company." And so she walked, literally, twenty paces, where she joined the heaviest infantry Manfred had seen in the regiment. Long flag jackets, webbing, black ceramite armor, arm-thrown javelins in an oversized set of containers, which Manfred knew meant those were hand-thrown explosive javelins. Per regulations, those throwing had to have thrown such a heavy weapon a set distance in competition. Here on Urdesh, sports competitions were unknown, but not on earth. He wondered if any of those throwers were actual athletes, repurposed, some looked the type. Their commanding officer, the one who'd told Manfred and Manfred where to wait, had an actual power sword, Tempestus issue apparently. But she wasn't with the units that had been named in their orders, indeed, both 'velites' and Hurricanes were waiting behind Green Tea, to the left, and Blue Vixen to the right. Fischer(he'd been in a team with the other so long, they both used last names, even with each other) moved to where he could converse with @[Reíður:21673f06-b884-4c6f-aa60-53f719965a55) without their weapons our routines interfering with one another.
"What's she and her mob here for?"
"Breakthrough exploitation, although some of those mark eights are actually recoilless rifles disguised as hand-thrown lances..."
"Oh, recoilless, right. Besides our friends in front, do we have any support?"
"Third and fourth, today."
"Third and fourth what?"
"Articllery Battery, earthshakers..."
"How close dare they fire to crunchies?"
"Surprisingly close, I told you, they're close support..."
"Did anyone ever tell your officers that's a good way for crunchies to go splat?"
"Hasn't happened in weeks, perfect record, despite shooting close..."
"You don't run these kinds of risks without some payout..."
"They're trying to catch up to first and second in kill count..."
"What's that like? Platoon each?"
"First and second have an armoured regiment, and six mechanized companies apiece."
"Since founding?"
"Since in-theatre. Double that since founding."
"Frak me, what do you need throwers for?"
"I suspect we'll find out, there's only eight batteries, and they're only usually firing two at a time..."
"Oh, expensive?"
"Well, that, and the fact that the shot is larger than a bull aurochs, so fitting a basilisk magnus with ordnance isn't that easy..."
"You got magnus? Can I see?"
"Point your field glasses towards our rear, you can maybe make out the front one... Then get back to waiting urgently..."
"Aye-aye. You guys been dating long?"
"What?"
"You and Ra? Nevermind, none of my business."
"That obvious huh? What about you and Manfred?"
"What?"
"Most guys in our regiment won't notice, but I can tell when the boys are fraternizing..."
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