The whiz pop of projectiles resounded in my ears as I bolted for all my might towards a small stand of trees to the right of our position. It is always better to run perpendicular to a sniper when he is shooting at you, therefore he has to track your movement and shoot before you. This is a good tactic when you have someone firing a single shot, but it is suicide against automatic fire. In that case all they have to do is set up a field of fire and wait for you to run into it. But for now I was doing fine, shot were going everywhere but on target. There was cheers and hoots from our small position and I felt I could make the trees with out being hit if the Saviour of Terra permitted it. I did not notice the fire stop, I made it to the trees brought up my las and got ready to to peep round the corner to see if I could spot the sniper that had dog my run. As a leaned round the tree I saw my squad in close formation moving alone a stone wall on our left. I left the cover of the trees, kept low and jogged more than ran to meet up with them.
As I got back to the squad I was given a couple of punches on the shoulder by Toffa and even one by Drax and without taking his eye of the local concealment spots Commissar Astarsy said quietly to me “You showed these reprobated what it I to be of a Prayer Gang boy. I had not even gotten the chance to tell Toffa to go do it and off you went. I am proud of you lad.” That last comment made all the fear and the burning in my chest all worth it, I felt all puffed up. Toffa looked glum.
We got to the position the sniper had held and found him crumpled below the single great tree he was sniping from. A 12' wooden shaft had pierced his neck hitting both major arteries on ether side. This sounds like an impossible shot but you have not seen the size of some of the heads on Arna's bolts, the man was lucky he still had his own head on his body.
“He does not look like PDF. Assassin?” ask Balius of the Commissar thumbing one of his many cogwheel pendent, bouncing it against a little black stone Aquila.
“Hum, local death cult possibly hired on to hold up forward units.
“Bal, check him.” With the commissar's order Balius left his amulets and started to strip the assassin of everything he carried very carefully. He left a pouch untouched and shook his head when Toffa started eyeing it. A booby-trap. This was why Balius always did this kind of work. He new what was a trap and what was not. I still miss his instinctual knowledge of those sort of thing to today. But there was still time till this man was gone, and the man that sits in the records room of my ship was born.