Night Of A Thousand Rebellions
1.z Gutsche “Guts” Nulner
Regiment of origin: Noctis Secundem 2nd Mechanized Infantry
Background: Gutsche was a doctor on Noctis Secundem, or at least what passed for one in the mining operations beneath the surface. Tending to miners who had suffered work related injuries and toxic gas leaks was the largest measure of the work he saw, working for the guild. Like many who lived in the underground Hives he had many brothers and sisters. One of whom ended up getting in debt with one of the gangs that ran the gambling in the lower levels. He came to Gutsche begging for a loan to bail him out. Now naturally Gutsche was of the mind that his brother had dug his own grave. However he did have a wife and kids, who the gangers would likely harass or kidnap to get the money they were owed. The debt was larger than he could meet with his meager savings and so he bought one of the rich noble’s Tithe Lottery tickets. A practice on Noctis, the rich who had come up to serve in the guard who did not wish to serve would sell their draft lottery tickets to poor miners on Secundem. In exchange Gutsche was paid an exorbitant amount of money for which he paid off his brother’s debt. He also told the man’s wife she should get out as soon as she could.
Then he was off to join the Imperial Guard. He was quickly snapped up as a medic in the 2nd mechanized Infantry Regiment, and sent off to join the main force along with others meant to bolster their losses. Gutsche took to the work quickly, as he was already experienced with dealing with patients who had lost limbs or been burned beyond recognition. The only difference is he was now under fire and had to return fire when the time called. The 2nd Mechanized served on several warfronts, usually in fast and brutal blitzkriegs where speed and heavy weapons were needed. They often saw heavy resistance and high losses for a regiment of their size, but none like their most recent campaign against the Tyranid menace.
The tendency of the regiment to move fast and strike deep did not play out well against the Tyranids on Herisor. Striking too deeply into the enemy formation they were surrounded and cut off, their main force completely wiped out. Luckily for the regiment a small detachment had been sent to one of the orbiting stations of the planet to clear out a Genestealer infestation. Gutsche was a part of that operation and one of the few to get out without some injury. Save for a little explosive decompression when a las bolt had popped a hole in the station, sucking the Genestealers out through a hole as wide as a coin. After the mission the surviving members of the task force were met with the news that the main body of their regiment had been completely destroyed on the surface. They did not take it well. Some of the men blamed themselves for not being there, some merely felt the loss of all those good men. All of their comrades they had come to know were gone. Gutsche tried to cheer up the others with his usual repertoire of bad jokes, but even he knew he wasn’t feeling it.
After the massacre they were attached to the 99th Melgovian while word was sent back to Noctis to begin restaffing a new regiment. In the meantime Gutsche would be fighting side by side with a motley assortment of broken guard regiments. Well, at least it couldn’t get any worse. Right?