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Da Boss Of Da Dead Chapta 8 | |
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Da Boss Of Da Dead Chapta 8 Star Wars Fiction |
Mazakatek watched the display and saw a light suddenly go out. “The entire force?” he said to the two crypteks, Ibon and Nalloshtek who had summoned him to the command centre. “Yes my lord.” Ibon replied, “Lord Thek’s raiding party was concealing itself from a krork aerial patrol when they were ambushed by a second krork force on the ground.” This disturbed Mazakatek. Initial reports had been that the krork were a degenerate species, but they had been able to defeat some of his finest warriors using. Perhaps a different strategy was required. “Summon Lord
Kastotek.” Mazakatek commanded, “I need him to deliver a message to the
krork.” When they returned to the city and while Two Heads took his orks in search of replacement ammunition, Hazug headed directly to Warboss Kromag’s palace where he was shown into the warboss’ presence immediately. “Well Hazug?” Kromag asked before his servant could even announce the Blood Axe’s presence in the room, “Wotcha got to tell me?” “We found another load of necrons.” Hazug said, “We killed some and da rest was on one of dare wagons wot got shot down by ya fightas.” Kromag’s expression didn’t change. Hazug had expected a better reaction than this. “I’s ‘ad loads of lads sayin’ dey’ve seen necrons now.” Kromag said, “And some of ‘em ‘ave driven ‘em off an’ all. But wot I wants to know is ‘ow we is goin’ to give da lot of ‘em a good kickin’ when dey just keeps comin’ and goin’? Da flyboys can keep up with ‘em, but dey can’t stay in dare air all da time.” “Dare’s a problem with dat boss.” Hazug said and Kazkal frowned, “’Ave da other lads said anythin’ about da necrons teleportin’ when dey is shot so dare’s nought left?” Kromag looked to one of the nobs standing beside his throne who shook his head. “No, dey aint.” Kazkal told Hazug. “Dat’s da
problem boss.” Hazug replied, “Remember I said dat we was goin’ to sue
dare own teleportin’ to get inside dare fort? Well if dey aint teleportin’
den we can’t.” “Yeah boss, I knows dat. But we needs to know which ones will teleport before we attack ‘em or we’re just wastin’ our time.” There were murmurs from the surrounding orks at this; to orks fighting was its own reason and never a waste of time. “Cowardly git lover.” One of the other orks muttered, just loud enough to be heard and there were snorts of agreement from the others. “We is likely to ‘ave only one bomb boss.” Hazug explained, “So we needs to get in da necron fort first time. If we don’t dey may figure out wot we’s up to.” “So wot’s ya big idea now den?” Kromag asked, still frowning. “We needs to figure out exactly where da fort is boss.” Hazug said, “Den we do it da proper way – We just fight our way inside. But we needs to find da fort before dare army gets ‘ere.” This prompted a much better reaction from the crowd, more murmurs but this time of support. “’Ave ay been keepin’ note of where and when dese necrons was seen?” Hazug asked and Kromag looked around again, this time towards one of his human servants that he used for his record keeping and the man nodded. “Yeah, we got it written down.” Kazkal said, “Ya can go take a look at it and I’ll send any other lads wot turn up with news to ya. Good enough?” Hazug grinned. “Dat’ll do boss.” He said. “Go with ‘im Skargak.” Kazkal said to an ork nob standing close by, “Ya can get Hazug wot ‘e needs. Goddit?” “Goddit boss.” Skargak replied. Hazug had seen Skargak around a lot since Warboss Kromag had started asking for his advice. Dressed in the traditional black garb of the Goffs clan he bore the scars of his years of fighting for Kromag and he was not much smaller than the warboss himself. “Follow me.” Skargak said to Hazug, “Ya can bring ya pets if ya wants.” He added looking at Hazug’s servants. “A lot of its written in git.” Skargak said, indicating the stack of notes, “Da boss aint interested in readin’ it for ‘imself. I suppose ya knows ‘ow to read it though? Ya spends enough time ‘em.” Skargak was insulting him Hazug knew. But Blood Axes were used to this attitude from other orks and he did not rise to the bait, much to Skargak’s annoyance. “I leaves most of it to Sophie.” Hazug replied, “I knows some words though.” Then he looked at Sophie, “So wot does we needs to look for den?” he asked. “Well what do you want to know?” Sophie asked back. “Where and when da necrons was seen and ‘ow many dare were.” Hazug said, “Plus ‘ow fast dey could move.” Sophie picked up a couple of the sheets of coarse paper that had been used for note taking. “Well it looks like whoever wrote these wanted to be able to pick out specific information.” She said, “Look – they just made a list of headings on each sheet and then filled in details. But they’ve not tried to convert the times into human units; they’ve left them in ork terms. Half sun, high sun and so on.” Orks had little need of precise time keeping; their society was based on doing things after a bigger told them to and before he beat them for not doing it. When they needed to state the time at which an event took place they often described the position of the sun in the sky at the time. So half sun could be mid morning or mid afternoon when the sun was half way between the horizon and its highest point in the sky, while high sun was about midday. However, both Hazug and Kazkal had a working knowledge of how humans measured time and made use of it when they wanted more detail. Hazug looked at one of the document Sophie was holding and he recognised the words ‘TIME’ and ‘MORNING HALF SUN’ written in the gothic alphabet. “Right den,” he said, “we’ll start by lookin’ for all da notes about wot ‘appened den.” And he took the sheet from Sophie and held it out to Mayleth and Ratish, “Does ya reckon dat ya both can find stuff wot says dat?” he asked, tapping the line of righting. “Easily.” Mayleth said, “Mon-keigh writing is as crude as they are.” And she headed towards one of the stack of papers. Hazug looked down at Ratish. “Well?” he asked. “Stupid git writin’ makes no sense to Ratish.” He said, glaring at Sophie. “Den just stay back and keep ‘old of Cuddles.” Hazug said, “I don’t’s want ‘im messin’ anythin’ up.” “I will not look up at you.” Mazakatek said sternly and Kastotek descended to a level where the overlord could look him directly in the face, “Good.” Mazakatek went on, “Now I have an assignment for you Lord Kastotek. A very important one.” “How many am I to kill?” Kastotek asked, “I ache for the slaughter.” With the aide of tiny motors embedded beneath the preserved remains of his face Mazakatek smile. “None.” He said, “I need you to deliver a message to the krork leader.” And he held up a sheet of plastic on which were printed several rows of text in ork glyphs. Kastotek looked at the message, connecting with the tomb’s central systems to translate the symbols. “You would
parlay with them?” he asked, backing away from the overlord
slightly. “I will obey my lord.” He said, “But how am I to reach their leader?” Mazakatek looked around to where the cryptek Astrast had been waiting silently. “All the information we have indicates that the krork use size as an indication of importance. Their leader will reside in the largest building in their city. Your destroyers will make a single high speed pass over the settlement and drop these around that building.” “But we may not kill any of them?” Kastotek asked. “It could be beneficial my lord.” Astrast said to Mazakatek, “The krork will be given the impression we can strike wherever and whenever we wish. The level of damage is insignificant so long as the destroyers can deliver the message and return without loss.” “Very well.” Mazakatek said, “Lord Kastotek go now. Deliver my message and return. You may kill as many as you want, but you return without loss to your own troops. Understood?” “Understood my lord.” Kastotek replied. Had he still possessed a face of flesh he would have smiled. Hazug looked at the map laid out on the table in front of him. On it he had marked the position of each necron sighting and noted the time of the sighting, their course and the strength of their numbers. There were about thirty sightings in all, all of which involved fast moving forces. “Dis makes no sense.” He said. “Wot don’t?” Skargak asked. “Well look at dis.” Hazug said, pointing to the map, “Da necrons is usin’ some fast wagons to move dare lads about, but dey is scattered about. Plus dey aint movin’ in any one direction. Dey keeps turnin’ around. If dey came straight at us den dare army could be ‘ere by now. We aint seen none of da big stuff dey ‘ad last time.” “So dey is fightin’ like pansies?” Skargak said, looking towards Mayleth. “The beast is right my master.” Mayleth said, “The people of Commoragh fight like this. These hit and fade strikes are to keep you off balance, to hide their numbers and their intentions. My craftworld cousins would employ more illusion.” “So why do your people fight this way Mayleth?” Sophie asked. “Cause dey is scared of bein’ killed.” Skargak responded before Mayleth could. The dark eldar woman snorted. “That is not
far from the truth my master.” She said to Hazug, “We hide our numbers and
our locations to prevent an enemy mounting a coherent defence against us.
We avoid contact with their strongest forces and overwhelm the weaker
positions.” “Cos dey wants to win easy.” Hazug replied and he looked at Mayleth, “Right?” “You are correct my master. We fight to plunder slaves. Heavy fighting results in heavy casualties on both sides. Every life lost means it will suffer no more and suffering is the key to our survival. Anybody’s.” “So dey is fightin’ dis way cos dey is weak.” Hazug said, “Dey is usin’ small fast forces cause dey don’t ‘ave no big and powerful ones.” “I agree my master.” Mayleth said, “If the mon-keigh is right-“ “Sophie.” Sophie interrupted, “My name’s Sophie.” “Git.” Ratish said suddenly. “If the mon-keigh is right about these timings then the y’ngir have never deployed more than about a hundred warriors at once.” Hazug thought for a few moments. “Last time I reckon dat dey just sent out as many lads as dey ‘ad. Dey kept on goin’ an’ all, none of dis ‘eadin’ back to dare fort dey seems to be doin’ ‘ere.” “But why?”
Sophie asked, “Why not just attack? Even those lighter transports seemed
fairly strong. Those shields protect them.” Just then there were excited shouts from outside the room and from the distance there was the sound of heavy gunfire. “What’s happening?” Sophie exclaimed. Skargak rushed to the doorway and reached out into the corridor just as a gretchin was rushing past clutching an arm full of ammunition. “Wot’s ‘appenin’ grot?” he demanded. “Its dem metal lads boss.” The gretchin gasped, “Dey’s attackin’ da city!” Skargak let go of the gretchin and looked towards Hazug. “Stupid
bleedin’ Blood Axe!” he snapped, “So much for dem not ‘avin’ enough lads.”
And he took off towards the throne room. As they ran through the hallways and corridors of the palace they encountered Warboss Kromag coming the other way. He had his arm held out beside him and a pair of mekboys was busy fitting a massive power claw to it. “Come on Hazug!” the warboss shouted when he saw Hazug, “Dem necrons is ‘ere. We’s goin’ up to da roof to see.” And he turned towards a set of stairs leading upwards. The high roof offered an excellent view of the city and as Kazkal Kromag and his court looked out they could make out the tiny dark shapes of several necrons flitting about in the air. The sound of gunfire came form all across the city as those orks who thought they may be in range tried to shoot down the necrons and those not in range fired into the air in excitement anyway. But something concerned Hazug. “Dey aint shootin’ back.” He said as he realised that the weapons fire was all coming from the ground. He removed the tau viewing device from his belt and held it to his eye, aiming it skywards. The shape of the tiny necron vehicles was familiar to him. They had the upper body of one of the larger necron warriors blended with a wide lower body that allowed them to fly. All but one had one of their arms replaced with the same multiple barrelled weapon that Hazug had seen them armed with before, while the other carried what seemed to be a warscythe like his own. One of the necrons turned towards the palace and swooped in low overhead. Many of the orks reacted in the only way they knew how – they opened fire and then yelled curses as they failed to hit the fast moving and agile craft. Meanwhile Hazug just kept his view fixed on the craft as it turned around for a second run. “Get ready lads.” Kromag said, “’E’s comin’ back for another go.” Then as the necron closed he added a shout of, “Let rip!” and the orks fired once more, only fewer this time as some of those had fired the first time found themselves out of ammunition. Once again the
necron destroyer passed low overhead without firing. But it instead
released something. The breeze caught the fluttering sheets of paper as
thy fell and they began to blow away from the palace. All six of them had headed north towards Git Town and as soon as they were over it they had descended and were now beginning to open fire. “Oi!” Kazkal Kromag bellowed, waving his powerclaw, “Dem gits is mine!” Hazug stuffed the viewer back in his belt. “Hazug we have to do something.” Sophie said, watching in horror as the necrons fired volley after volley into the human settlement. “Ya pet git’s right Hazug.” Kazkal said, turning towards him, “Go get dem necrons before dey wipes out all me gits.” “Gotcha boss.” Hazug replied and followed by his servants he ran from the roof. Hazug sped through the streets of the city towards Git Town, paying even less attention to other road users than normal. However, he did bring the truck to a sudden halt when he caught sight of a group of lightweight buggies that each mounted a single heavy weapon. The owners of the vehicles were clustered around several small tables, eating. “Oi! Ya lot follow me!” he shouted. “Sod off!” one of the ork buggy owners replied without looking around, “We’s eatin’.” “Eat later, fight now!” Hazug shouted, “Unless ya wants to explain yaselves to d big boss.” The buggy crews now looked around at Hazug and saw his truck. Being painted in a grey and green camouflage pattern similar to that on his clothing it was obviously a Blood Axe vehicle. Since Hazug was the only Blood Axe left on the planet it also told the orks exactly who he was. Though he was not popular with the general population, they at least knew he had the ear of the warboss and the last thing any of them wanted to risk was having to explain their actions to Kazkal Kromag while suspended upside down over a pit of carnivorous jumping squigs. Immediately the orks jumped to their feet and rushed to their vehicles, the engines roaring as they started up. Followed by the war buggies Hazug set off once more. The beginning of Git Town was clearly marked by a large sign that simply read ‘YA IS NOW ENTERIN’ GIT TOWN’ in ork glyphs. At one time ‘FIRE AT WILL’ and ‘WHICH ONE’S WILL?’ had been written beneath this, but now these had been painted over with, ‘DA GITS BELONG TO DA BOSS’ to dissuade orks from going hunting here when they got bored. As Hazug’s truck raced past the sign he threw a glance over his shoulder toward Ratish who was sat in the back of the truck. “Get on da gun.” He said. “Yes master.”
Ratish exclaimed excitedly and eh climbed up the roll cage to where the
belt fed weapon was mounted, “Ratish ready to kill metal lads master.” The
gretchin added gleefully. Hazug looked upwards and caught a glimpse of one of the destroyers as it flew overhead. “Hazug,” Sophie exclaimed, “its heading for the market.” “I saw dat.” Hazug replied and he turned the steering wheel violently, making the truck perform a sharp turn around a corner that lifted two of its wheels off the ground. Behind him the buggies copied his manoeuvre and they all headed towards the market at high speed. From his vantage point on top of the truck, Ratish saw the necrons destroyers first and he opened fire, sending a stream of heavy bullets toward one of them. But although his aim was good and several of the rounds struck the necron all of them bounced of its thick shell harmlessly. Getting closer to the market, the sound of screaming could be heard. Here and there were flashes of light. A few were the white pulses characteristic of lasguns like Sophie’s, the standard weapon for the human constabulary now. But most of them were the pale green that Hazug had come to expect from necron technology. A group of humans run from the market only for a single destroyer to swoop down and fire, disintegrating all of them in a single volley. But in getting so low the destroyer had made itself vulnerable and there was the ‘whoosh’ of rocket fire as one of the war buggies opened fire on the alien skimmer. Two of the three rockets sailed right past and blew tiny craters in the poorly maintained street. However, the third was on target and the ork buggy crews cheered as the alien was blasted apart. Hazug brought the truck to a dead stop just outside the entrance to the walled off marketplace and jumped down. “Ratish wait ‘ere.” He ordered, “Shoot any necron ya sees. Ya other two with me. Leave Cuddles.” And he plucked his rifle ad warscythe from the back of the truck and ran into the marketplace, pursued by Mayleth and Sophie. Inside the marketplace was a scene of panic. The necrons had descended on the densest crowd in Git Town and begun to kill at random. The constabulary had responded quickly and Hazug guessed that pretty much their entire strength was here. Or at least what was left of them. A discarded lasgun nearby that was covered on blood suggesting that some of them were among the casualties. Sophie was the first to fire, aiming a burst at the destroyer that was armed with a warscythe. Kastotek was hovering above an upturned market stall and was stabbing his blade through it repeatedly to try and impale the humans now cowering behind it. But just like Ratish’s attempt to shoot one down with the truck’s weapon her shots bounced off the alien’s armour and before Hazug could take aim with his own weapon Kastotek sped off. There was the roar of an engine and Hazug looked around to see one of the ork war buggies drive into the market, its twin mounted guns blazing away into the air. “Get behind da buggies!” Hazug bellowed in gothic, hoping to clear the way for more of them to enter the area to deal with the necrons. But above the noise of engines, gunfire and the screams of the injured he could not make himself heard. “Get ya lads to form a line!” Hazug shouted towards the leader of the war buggies, “Give da humans somethin’ to ‘ide behind.” Then he looked at Sophie and Mayleth, “Split up.” He said, “Try and get as many as possible behind da buggies. Dey can use ‘em for cover to escape. Sophie let da, wot was it? Constabulary?” Sophie nodded, “Let dem know wot’s ‘appenin’.” Then he ran into the panicking crowd, waving them towards the market entrance. One after another the war buggies filed into the marketplace, forming a rough line from which they fired at the destroyers. But the necrons were too agile and not one ork round struck any of them. Mayleth moved quickly, jumping through the gaps between the panicking humans. Her translator was not set to translate between gothic and her own language and she did not have the time to adjust it now. So instead she just plucked people up as the cowered behind whatever cover they could find and waved them towards the orks. A few were reluctant, the orks were still firing continuously and there was no guarantee that none of them would aim lower and ‘accidentally’ shoot into the human crowd themselves and a mere wave from a half naked eldar was not enough to convince them otherwise. But a well placed shove or kick provided the incentive Mayleth needed to get them moving. She smiled as the humans ran. All around her there was pain and suffering from the damage inflicted by the necrons and though it was not as a carefully inflicted wound or the agony of prolonged torture it was still nourishing to her and she drank it in. “Chief Thayne!” Sophie cried out as she spotted Dariel and one of his men lifting an injured man while a third constable fired on the necrons. The man was silent, the shock of having his leg vaporised by the necrons had mad him black out. Dariel was clearly keen to evacuate him before he could bleed to death. “Sophie!” Dariel called back at her, “Help us with him.” Sophie slung
her weapon, it had proven useless so far anyway and rushed to Dariel’s
side. “What’s going
on?” Dariel asked. “I don’t now.” Was all Sophie could say as another woman disappeared in a haze of green light in front of them. The sound of an explosion suddenly filled the air and Hazug looked around to where one of the buggies, the armed with a rocket launcher instead of automatic guns was now nothing but a burning wreck. Above the marketplace wall was the necron destroyer that had been shot down in the street beyond. Clearly it had been able to repair itself and was now taking its revenge. The ork gunners all now took aim at the hovering destroyer and opened fire in unison. Then Hazug saw the necron he was looking for, the one with the warscythe. “Gotcha.” He said to himself and he took aim. The rocket shot from beneath his rifle and flew towards Kastotek, only to miss him by a narrow margin and strike the far wall of the marketplace. As Kastotek turned to see who had just dared to attack him he saw Hazug discard his rifle and instead take his own warscythe in his hands. “Waaagh!” Hazug roared as he charged towards Kastotek. The necron lord brought his warscythe around and parried the strike, the two blades sliding across one another. Then he struck back, attempting to bring his weapon down on Hazug’s head. However, Hazug had expected this and he suddenly dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way, unbalancing Kastotek. Then he thrust upwards with his warscythe and cut through not only Kastotek’s hand, but also the shaft of the weapon it held. Kastotek
backed off, gaining altitude and clutching at the sparking stump of his
hand. Then Kastotek remembered Mazakatek’s orders to him. Sustain no losses. Broadcasting tot eh other destroyers, Kastotek gave the retreat order to them. “We have killed many.” He told them, “And we will kill more yet. But not now.” And with the other destroyers following him, he raced skywards out of reach and then sped off.
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