User Guide

10 11
know you’re going to die.
Two standard weeks back, the Blood Eagle dropped
onto a world held by your people, slaughtering the
populace and setting the flayed bodies of their vic-
tims on spears around their LZs. The ghosts of our
people cry out for
vengeance, the elders said.
The famed Scar Captain
assembled a battalion of
warriors to strike in retri-
bution. You joined quick-
ly, eager to serve your
people and win glory in
the eyes of Phoenix.
One way or the other,
you’re high in the favor of
Phoenix today. One of the
two Blood Eagle about to
destroy you erupts in a
spinfusor explosion, and
the second one breaks off
to meet the new threat.
Harach’Xu. -- another
newblood of your tribe --
salutes you as he skims by.
“That’s three for me!” he calls with a grin, chasing
the Blood Eagle into a gully with another spinfusor
shot.
Even you, newblood, should be worth any four of
these Empire-loving scrofs, Minerva joked as you
disembarked from the
dropship. I’ll have four
markers on my belt by
moonsrise, you boasted.
She’d replied with a
raised eyebrow. You
know now you hadn’t
any idea what you were
in for.
You grope for the ammo
canister, find it, and slam
it into place on the
Telamonian with a sharp,
metallic click. Relief fills
you, but it’s only
momentary. The Blood
Eagle peltast rockets back
out of the gully with a
minigun leveled and
buzzing. Caught off-
guard, Harach’Xu tum-
bles out of the sky in pieces. You leap aside as
flechettes reach for you in a wake of fury. A quick
thrust from your flight pack scoots you beneath the
Blood Eagle peltast, and you open up with the
Telamonian, but the peltast is too damn fast ...
You remember the bruises left by your weapons
instructor, Azendai, and how he taught you to focus
through the pain, to keep your attention on the tar-
get. But never lose your awareness of your surround-
ings, he would say. Always know where the nearest
ditch is, and grow eyes in the back of your head. The
Tr i b e s F i ct io n Tr i be s F i c t i o n