Turning Point -Warhammer 40k Fan Fiction

Chapter 10 - The Meeting

         Brushing past the thick crowd, Joseph finally made his way to the spotting point.  The outside edge of the bustling market square ended at a precipice overlooking the industry section of the city below.  Jumping over the guard rail, he pushed through the dense foliage and was immediately rewarded with a breathtaking view of the landscape below.  Huge billowing clouds of smoke ascended to the sky from several large factories in the distance.  Rolling waves from the sea could barely be made out far off on the horizon.

         Reaching into his belt pouch, he took out the small ocular device given to him for the mission.  With the device magnifying his view over a hundred times, he was able to observe the Captain and his entourage with crystal clarity.  Joseph signaled through the vox to the others that he had reached his position.

         Unlatching the heavy briefcase he had lugged through nearly two miles of the busy inner city, Joseph began to assemble the powerful las rifle within.  Always use to being close to the action, something felt wrong about observing from far away.  Even with the knowledge that his aim was superior to many others, he yearned to be closer to the action.

         “Now remember Five, at this range you’ll need a slight lead on your targets.  The compensator on the scope takes a couple of seconds to calculate, but intuition goes a lot farther than a machine can ever give you,” Yuda Scario’s voice spoke softly over the vox.  Over the past few days, Joseph had a few brief conversations with the older mercenary.  He was more than helpful with getting Joseph acquainted with ship life, but it seemed apparent that he had a genuine mistrust of machines.

         “Acknowledged, Four.  I’m in position and ready,” Joseph answered back.

         Joseph felt his heart begin to race.  The sudden realization hit him that he was on his first mission as a mercenary, under the employ of a rogue trader.  The thought seemed strange and foreign to him, but after a moment or two he was able to relax a bit and slow down his pulse.  Right now he had immediate purpose and didn’t have time to worry about what direction his new life would take him.

         “Seven contacts ahead, twelve o’clock.  Six of them are confirmed armed.  Copy that, Five?”

         Snapping out of his thoughts, he quickly brought the rifle up to his shoulder and gazed through the scope.  Seven men were approaching the Captain far below, four of them with rifles at the ready.  “Copy that Four.  I have them in sight.”

         Approaching the Captain’s entourage, the men spread out with the armed figures on opposite ends.  A short and robust man in the center began conversing with the Captain.  Grace and Kuro stood on opposite sides of the Captain.  Several servitors from the ship, two of which were combat oriented, were stationary several feet behind them.  So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

          “Just wish we could hear what they’re saying,” Joseph said over the vox in a whisper.

         “I hear you, Five.  Captain detected some wide band vox listeners down there, so you and I are limited to sight.  Keep sharp and look for anything funny.”

         A cool wind blew across the top of the cliff face, coating Joseph with the fine red dust indigenous to the area.  He blew off a small amount of it that accumulated on the front of the rifle scope.  Far below, the Captain and his team continued speaking with the strangers.  Spotting something, Joseph instantly positioned his finger near the trigger of the rifle and zoomed in for a closer look.

         “Four, is there to be an item exchange of some sort?”

         “Affirmative, Five.  Package should be no larger than a briefcase.”

         “It sure would be nice to be given at least a few scant details of the mission before hand,” Joseph quipped, annoyed that vital information had been kept from him.

         “I hear you Five, but that’s the Captain’s call, and you’re the new fish.  Shut up and keep watch.”

         One of the guards from the other party slung his rifle around his shoulder and stepped forward.  With some noticeable effort, he held up a briefcase to the Captain.  Nodding, Grace intercepted the package and set it down to open it.  So far everything seemed to be going well.  Joseph relaxed a bit more and eased his finger away from the trigger.

         Far below, the Captain and the rotund leader were deep in conversation.  Reading the facial expressions of the other man, Joseph could tell that something was either wrong or about to head that way.

         “Four, I’m reading some irritability with our guests.  Copy?”

         “I read you Five, but settle down.  The Captain’s been through many tougher negotiations than this.” Scario’s tone of voice was laden with overconfidence.  The others aboard the ship attested to Yuda’s strength and combat prowess, but none more than himself.

         “I’ve got a bad feeling about this, Four.  Permission to open fire the moment I see something.”  Joseph once again brought his finger over the trigger, ready for any sign of hostility.

         “Negative, Five.  You will stand down and wait for my signal no matter what.  Repeat, you will not fire unless told to.  Get your finger away from that trigger, son!”

         Popping his head up from the rifle scope, Joseph used the ocular device to spot Yuda’s position atop one of the larger factory’s roof adjacent to his own position.  He found Yuda staring back at him through his own rifle scope.  Angry that he was being coddled, and that he had a rifle trained on him, Joseph swore under his breath and took his finger away from the trigger once again.

         “Keep your eyes open, Five.  But do not do anything unless I give the go ahead.”

         “Acknowledged, Four.  It’s your show.”  Joseph tried to kill the heavy sarcasm that itched to escape his throat, but managed to lessen it instead.

         Resuming his watch, Joseph couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of dread.  In the past, his feelings were never in vain, and had kept him alive more than once on the battlefield.  Learning to trust his gut was something his Father had adamantly ingrained in him.  He moved his finger just outside of the trigger guard, wanting to be as ready as possible for the unknown. 

         Meanwhile, at the exchange, Grace had finished checking the briefcase and closed it back up.  Monitoring through his scope, he saw her hand the heavy case to one of their servitors in the back.  The Captain was seemingly caught up in a full blown argument with the short obese man.  The soldiers accompanying him looked uneasy as they listened in on the exchange.  Joseph read each of the soldier’s faces and knew what they were thinking.  They were just waiting for the word to strike.

         Thoughts racing a mile a minute, Joseph felt panic begin to rise inside of him.  Knowing that Scario wouldn’t listen to his hunches, he started to look around for any other possible signs of danger.  Checking out the right side of the exchange location, he found many large metal crates stacked and strewn about.  In his quick overview, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary, and a total lack of movement.

         A bush nearby and in front of him obstructed Joseph’s full view of the left hand side of the meeting place.  Crawling forward with his elbows a few more feet to his right, Joseph once again sat down the long las rifle on its bipod and looked into the scope.  Scanning the area, he was almost disappointed when nothing struck him out of the ordinary.  Had his gut feeling been wrong?

         Slightly dejected and confused, he spied through his scope back to the meeting place to find all of the players somewhat cooler in demeanor and stance.  The servitor with the briefcase was already en route to the large civilian vehicle that the Captain had rented for the meet.  The fat man’s entourage seemed much more relaxed, and everything seemed at ease.  The Captain must have said a joke, because the short plump man laughed and slapped the Captain on the side of his arm.

         “Looks like everything is wrapping up down there, Five.  I think we’re just about done here.  I told you the Captain knows what he’s doing.”

         Bothered by his false feeling, Joseph simply acknowledged, “Copy that, Four.”

         Off in the distance, the Captain was shaking hands with the plump leader.  Grace and Kuro were pointing to the servitors, most likely instructing them to retreat to the nearby vehicle.  With a strange disappointment to Joseph, the deal had gone off somewhat smoothly.  Although he didn’t want things to go awry, he was unable to shake the notion that he wanted something to happen so that he could always trust his gut feeling.

         In his ever vigilant nature, Joseph scanned the line of soldiers next to the obese man one last time.  Satisfied, he began to move his eye away from the rifle scope.  Sudden movement caught his eye, and his heart began to pound.  Holding his breath involuntarily, he looked back into the scope.  The last soldier on the right hand side’s mouth was moving.  Zooming in, it was easy to see the man was speaking into a micro bead.  Settling back down, Joseph reasoned that he was most likely calling in the successful exchange.  Once again feeling dejected, he let the air he was holding in his lungs out in a loud sigh of disappointment.

         Joseph felt bad about wanting something to go wrong, since he didn’t wish for the chance of someone getting hurt or killed.  He knew deep inside it all went back to his Father.  Darius Vintros had always told Joseph that a man needs to balance his reason and his feelings, trusting both of them equally to survive.  Intuition was not to be scoffed at.  When discerned and trusted upon carefully, it could make all the difference between life and death.  Somehow, Joseph felt that he had let his Father down.  His anguish and personal strife over the past week had somehow messed with his intuition.

         He was just about to move away from the eye piece when abruptly he recognized the last word that the soldier had mouthed.  It was unmistakably the word “shot”.  Back at full awareness, Joseph caught the man’s subtle upward glance to his left.  The tiny hairs on his neck and arms stood at end as Joseph hurriedly traced the man’s line of sight to a several story building hundreds of yards away.  He searched desperately to find the source of the man’s attention.

         “Five, time to pack it in.  Mission is successful, and it’s time to get back to the rendezvous point.  Copy that?”

         Ignoring the voice over the vox line, Joseph continued his frantic search for something of interest atop of the weather beaten manufacturing plant.  Several access hatches and towers were raised on the rather large metal roof, making the search that much more difficult.

         “Five, do you read me?”  Scario’s voice sounded irritated more than concerned.

         Unable to process words at the moment, Joseph maintained his obstinate search over the area.  Finally, Joseph found what he was looking for.  He had stumbled upon the sight of which the soldier on the ground hundreds of yards away had glanced at.  Prone atop one of the higher metal towers lay an unknown soldier with a long rifle pointed towards the far away gathering.  It was a sniper who most likely just got the go ahead for the kill shot.  His rifle was most likely pointing down at the helpless, unknowing Captain below.

         Cursing openly over the vox channel, Joseph zoomed in on the sniper and moved his finger over the trigger guard to feel the cold metal on his finger.

         “Five, I didn’t copy that.  What the hell is going on?”

         Taking a quick and deep breath, Joseph let the air out of his lungs and steadied his sight over the prone man’s head.  Wind speed and atmospheric conditions scrolled past the upper right hand side of the scope’s HUD.  Compensating quickly, Joseph pulled the trigger and closed his eyes.