The Last Chancers: Difference between revisions

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''The Last Chancers'' is a trilogy of novels set in the [[Warhammer 40000|Warhammer 40,000]] universe written by Gav Thorpe. The novels in the series are named ''13th Legion'', ''Kill Team'', and ''Annihilation Squad'', and concern the titular 13th Penal Legion of the Imperial Guard, informally known as the [[Title Drop|Last Chancers]]. Led by Colonel Schaeffer, the Last Chancers are drawn from convicts in Imperial service, other penal legions, and anyone else with a criminal history with skills that might be made useful. Schaeffer leads them on a quest to redeem themselves in the eyes of the [[God-Emperor]], either by making a difference in the Imperium's perpetual conflicts or by dying in His service, whether the convicts seek redemption or not...

* [[And This Is For]] -- {{spoiler|After earning his freedom at last, surviving where nearly four-thousand others did not, Kage finds himself [[Drowning My Sorrows|Drowning His]] [[Survivor Guilt]] in an officer's bar when one of the [[Blue Blood]] officers overhears him mumbling to himself about his time in the Last Chancers. The man starts a verbal altercation, telling Kage that he should have died like the rest of the scum in his legion. Angry words are exchanged and steel ends up getting drawn. Kage winds up running the man through, stabbing his body repeatedly, dedicating each stab to one of his fallen comrads. This of course violates his probation, and the Colonel ''[[Contrived Coincidence|just happened]]'' to be very close by...}}

* [[Anti-Hero]] -- Kage, floating somewhere around [[Sliding Scale of Anti-Heroes|type V on the sliding scale]]. He would be a [[Heroic Sociopath]], but his sociopathy is played serious rather than for laughs. He cares little for other people's lives, will kill someone if given half a reason, and is diagnosed as psychotic [[In-Universe]], but stops just short of [[Ax Crazy]]. He is occasionally shown to have some vague misgivings about causing unnecessary death, or briefly lament the loss of a friend, but he prefers not to let himself think about it. In his own words:

* [[Asteroid Thicket]] -- While the Last Chancers are in a ship approaching planet Armageddon, the bridge crew discovers a previously unknown field of asteroids in orbit, and the captain decides to use the field as cover to slip by the Ork forces assaulting the planet. {{spoiler|Unfortunately for them, those [[That's No Moon|Were No Asteroids]]. They were (the then new innovation) Ork Rok forts, and it did not take the Orks long to open fire...}}

* [[Bar Brawl]] -- While in the alien quarter of a city on a Tau border world, the Last Chancers end up in a bar patronized by many sentient species, some of whom take issue with the presence of humans. Kage throws the first punch, [[Genre Savvy|reasoning a bar fight was inevitable]], so [[Combat Pragmatist|he might as well be the one to get the first attack in]]. Unfortunately, he neglected to account for many species there having it in for humans, and the fight is only ended in their favor by the entry of a kindred of Kroot who aid them. The Kroot warn that things could have gotten lethal for the humans, to which Kage, in a moment of [[Subverted Trope|Subverted]] [[Genre Savvy]], protests that things would not have gotten so bad in a mere bar brawl. The Kroot have to explain that the [[Absolute Xenophobe]] policies of [[The Empire|the Imperium]] make [[Humans Through Alien Eyes|humans rather unpopular]] among other galactic races. [[Obliviously Evil|Kage is confused why xenos should find this inspiration for hate]].

* [[Virtual Training Simulation]] --

** The troopship ''[[Cool Ship|Laurels of Glory]]'', intended for carrying [[Elite Mooks|Imperial Stormtroopers]], is one of [[Power Equals Rarity|less than a dozen such ships in the Imperium]] which include training bays of unusual sophistication. These training bays are capable of convincingly simulating things such as a pastoral farmland on a planet's surface, including weather changes. It may involve [[Hologram|Holograms]], but does not involve [[Hard Light]]. Things such as grass are grown in the bay itself, rather than projected, and each bay must be landscaped and have its structures constructed with conventional methods.

** Tau battledomes are similar to the training bays on the ''Laurels of Glory'', but much more common among the Tau than the human equivelant is among the Imperium. Schaeffer even admits that the Tau's training methods are "practical and laudable" even though they lack appreciation for "the dangers of the over-dependance on technology."

* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]] -- [[Discussed Trope|Discussed]] briefly between Kage and Tanya. She is upset about her roll in the comming mission, afraid that she will be required to shoot a Tau. Kage has to remind her that Tau are not ''[[Fantastic Racism|people]]'', they are ''[[Not Even Human|xenos]]''. Kage is less concerned that Tanya has a respect for life than he is with the possibility that [[Moral Myopia|she might extend that respect to alien life]].