BERP's first Bike Week

Techpriest Enginseer BERP (Basic Engineering Repair Protocol) was now a veteran, having completed his second battle.   He stood on the blasted plain, his red cloak moving in the wind.  His bionic eye focusing on distant wrecked structures.  His one good, human eye, tired and bloodshot from the dust and smoke.

BERP had accompanied the Cadian 555th Company to this distant world just this week.  Assigned as per the prior protocols to an attached Artillery Company, with vehicles similar to before.  As programmed, BERP was initially deployed with the Manticore, his cables connected to the tank, monitoring its systems and prepared to fire it should the crew fail to follow orders.  The enemy, he was briefed, were renegade Space marines, all mounted on bikes or jump packs, perfect for this open, dusty environment.  Bike mounted marines were not, however, an enemy BERP had much dealing with.  A good radio net was established between formation commands, to improve the accuracy and efficacy of the artillery.

The battle was to begin with the artillery opening up as before, once the bikers were detected.  BERP saw that everything was in order, and the enemy was not in sight.  That changed in a split second, when an a giant beam of energy lanced downward towards the 555th from the skies above and erupted into a devastating conflagration.  The beam, probably from a space-borne system, lanced between the Manticore and nearby basilisk, and in an instant, both exploded and were destroyed. BERP momentarily lost his own function, but in an instant his training and programming had him looking for other vehicles to support as he disentangled from the debris.  The Omnisiah Protects its own.

Already, the bikers were swiftly approaching.  Shooting of energy and mass-reactive weapons erupted all across the 555th's gun line.  BERP saw the Banewolf shudder under a multimelta impact, and runes flashed that the damaged vehicle was already immobilized.  BERP moved in that direction, which would also be the center of the 555th's line.

Fighting continued.  On the right, the Wyvern battery and Ordnance officer and mortar team ignored the oncoming renegade flanking force, and instead supported the Imperial left.  It was a gambit to try to cause as much damage as they could, ignoring their own personal danger.  Damage was done, ordnance raining down, but was woefully inaccurate.  The artillery missed the front lines of the marines and instead pummeled the second wave - jump pack assault marines...

As he moved to the left, BERP sorted through the incoming communications and data, recognizing that as the biker renegades assaulted the 555th from the front, the stronger renegade command was flanking the line on the right.  BERP reached the damaged Banewolf and attempted repairs.  On the right flank, he could see that the renegades were breaking through that flank, and BERP received the order from the Artillery Company commander that he was now to report to the 555th directly.  Soon the Wyvern, security force, and Artillery Company command were engulfed in short, brutal fighting with the bikers.

The supporting Vendetta flashed overhead, heading left.  The goal seemed to be to breach the renegade biker lines and allow the 555th to advance away from its crumbling right flank.

Before BERP could be successful in his repairs, the Banewolf was wrecked by bikers advancing up the flank.  The Commander of the 555th's Chimera now also began to smoke, and commander dismounted, power sword in hand.  The battle quickly devolved into a rout, the 555th moving left, away from the renegade biker command, their gambit to destroy the units before them a hard fought success. At one point the Company Commander with BERP in tow, looked to assault an attack bike squad that was looking for them in the dust and smoke of the battler, but the bikers moved away before contact.

As the smoke and dust continued to clear, the Vendetta provided air cover for the dismounted survivors.  The renegade marines did not pursue.

BERP was saddened by the loss of equipment.  In part, he felt that the battlefield was just no place for the vehicles under his charge.  Soon he would be arriving back at the force's depot, and start the process over...there was more fighting coming.