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Da Boss Of Da Dead Chapta 9 | |
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Da Boss Of Da Dead Chapta 9
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Hazug returned to Warboss Kromag’s palace to tell him what had happened in Git Town, knowing that the warboss would not be happy about the loss of so many of the humans that belonged to him. But when Hazug and his servants entered the presence of the warboss again he had another matter on his mind. “Wotcha reckon to dis den?” Kazkal said and he held out a sheet of paper to Hazug. The paper was of finer quality than the rough sheets that gretchin made for orks, more like human made paper. But on it were ork glyphs. These were printed neatly rather than hand written, again more like a human document. “Dare’s loads of ‘em.” Kazkal said, “Dare wot dat flying necron dropped on da city.” Kazkal said. “And dey is all da same?” Hazug asked. “Dat’s right. Exactly da same.” Again this was more like something humans would do. Hazug had seen machines built by them that could produce hundreds of identical pages in a short time. But what was really interesting was what was written on the paper. “Dare boss wants to talk to us?” Hazug said. “Dat’s wot dey is sayin’.” Kazkal replied, “So wot d’ya reckon dey want to say?” “Dunno boss. Last time dey wasn’t interested in talkin’ much. But den dey seemed to ‘ave a load more lads. I don’t reckon dey’ve got dat many dis time.” Hazug replied and he looked at Mayleth, “Any ideas?” he asked. Mayleth shook her head. “I am sorry my master.” She replied, “I cannot say why they are making this move.” “Gits sometimes try and talk instead of fight.” One of the attending nobs said. “Yeah,” another one agreed, “when dey run out of lads to fight with.” Kazkal
considered this. “Dat’s right boss.” He replied, “Plus dey aint got none of da big wagons dey ‘ad last time.” “Well den,” Kazkal said, “looks like dey is givin’ up.” “The y’ngir do not surrender.” Mayleth said suddenly. “Wot’s ya pansy sayin’ now?” Kazkal said to Hazug, “A mo ago she said dat she didn’t know wot dey was up to. Tell ‘er to make ‘er bleedin’ mind up.” “So wotcha gonna do boss?” Skargak asked. “Wot else?” Kazkal said, “I is gonna meet with da boss of dese metal lads. ‘E can come ‘ere if ‘e wants, but if I don’t like wot ‘e ‘as to say den ‘e aint leavin’ again. Well, except maybe as scrap.” And he laughed. All around the room the other orks joined in their leader’s laughter. Only Hazug and his servants remained silent. Hazug gathered Mek Batrug, Drazzok, Thuggrim and Two Heads together at his home as quickly as he could. “So dat’s it den,” he said, “da necron boss is comin’ ‘ere to meet with da boss. I reckon dat ‘e’s up to somethin’ though, so I reckon we should all be ready for ‘im.” “Da boss ‘as a fort full of lads.” One of Two Heads pointed out before the other one added, “Nobs an’ all.” “I knows dat.” Hazug replied, “But I reckon dat da necrons must know dat an’ all. So I wants ya dare as somethin’ ‘e aint goin’ to be ready for. I’ll take Drazzok and Thuggrim in with me, da rest of ya should be waitin’ outside.” “Bah!” Drazzok snapped, “Its always me innit?” “Well if can recommend a better weirdo we is all listenin’.” Batrug replied. “Da great Drazzok is da greatest of all da weirdoes.” Thuggrim proudly proclaimed without prompting. “Yeah,” Drazzok added, “which is wot Batrug just admitted I reckons.” And he grinned. Batrug just scowled. “Never mind dat Drazzok,” Hazug said, “ya got experience fightin’ necrons. So I reckons ya might be able to ‘elp deal with dare boss.” “Will dare be food?” Drazzok asked. “I doubt da boss is puttin’ on a lunch for dis necron boss.” Two Heads commented. “Nah,” Hazug agreed, “But I can ‘ave Sophie do ya a packed lunch if ya wants.” “Well den,” Drazzok replied, “in dat case count me in.” “Knew I could count on ya.” Hazug said, grinning. A single vehicle brought Mazakatek to Warboss Kromag’s palace. Identical to the vehicle ridden by the late Lord Thek it set down on the roof and the overlord stepped calmly down from it. Waiting for him was one of the warboss’ human servants and a force of goff nobs led by Skargak. Elsewhere on the roof were several small groups of orks who fidgeted with their weapons as they held their fire. “I am Mazakatek, overlord of the necron forces in this system.” Mazakatek said loudly and in fluent orkish, “I have come as agreed to meet with your krork master. I carry no weapons.” “Welcome to the palace of the great Warboss Kazkal Kromag of the Bad Moon clan.” The human replied, also in orkish and bowing his head, “If you will follow me I will take to his greatness.” Mazakatek followed the human, walking past the assembled group of nobs that watched the pair of them closely. Only after they had gone by did the large orks make a move, following after Kazkal’s servant and guest. Meanwhile the two necrons crewing the vehicle that had brought the overlord here remained at their posts, still physically linked to the vehicle while the other ork guards on the roof kept a careful eye on them and eagerly awaited either an order or an excuse to attack. Warboss Kromag’s servant led Mazakatek to the warboss’ throne room by the most direct route, one that had been cleared of all others just in case someone took it upon themselves to pre-empt an attack order from the warboss. The throne room however, was packed. Nobs of all the major clans were present, including Hazug as the only Blood Axe and each of them was well armed. Mazakatek noticed that Hazug carried his captured warscythe on his back. Kazkal himself watched the approach of the overlord from his throne where he sat with his arms resting on the throne itself, the right arm still encased in the machinery of his powerclaw. Every now and again there would be sparks as the powerclaw’s energy field reacted to the presence of the metal throne. Hazug took the time to study Mazakatek closely. The necron overlord possessed a torso and limbs similar to one of the larger necron soldiers but that was where the similarities ended. He had massive armoured shoulders that merged with an ornate headdress. The most staggering difference however, was that where his face showed through the armour of the headdress he clearly still had flesh. It was grey and clearly preserved, but this was the only time that Hazug had seen anything other than metal used in the construction of a necron. “My lord,” the human servant said, kneeling before the warboss and looking straight down at the floor, “may I present to you Overlord Mazakatek of the necrons.” Kazkal growled. “Geddout.” He said to his servant and the human got up and left. “Kazkal Kromag of the-“ Mazakatek began. “Shuddup!” Kazkal bellowed, “Dis is my fort and I says when ya can speak. Goddit?” Mazakatek bowed his head as he had seen the human do. “So den,” Kazkal said, “wotcha want?” “I am here to negotiate your withdrawal from this planet.” Mazakatek said and Kazkal laughed out loud. More orks joined in the laughter, including Drazzok who was stood immediately behind Hazug. On the other hand Hazug just stared at the overlord as he stood motionless before the warboss. Something seemed odd to him. An individual that felt themselves to be in a position of strength would be unlikely to bow before an enemy, but here the overlord was demanding the orks’ surrender. “Now wot makes ya think we’d do dat?” Kazkal said, sneering at Mazakatek, “We knows ya aint got more dan a couple o’ ‘undred lads.” This caught Mazakatek off guard. He had not thought the orks capable of determining the strength of his forces so accurately. However, what remained of his face was incapable of letting his concern show. “I have many forces at my disposal.” He said, “My raids so far have been purely to test and evaluate your defences and I have found them lacking. I have even struck here at your stronghold, whereas your troops are running around at random in a vain attempt to locate mine.” Kazkal snorted. “Ya lads just shot up a bunch of gits.” Kazkal said, “Dey could ‘ave ‘ad a go at me lads but instead dey ran away from a decent fight. Gits aint even got any decent loot and I knows dey only got an ‘andful of puny zappas cause dats wot I let ‘em ‘ave.” then he paused, “Tell ya wot,” he added, “give us a thousand of dem zappas ya lads got and a couple of choppas like Hazug’s and ya can be da ones to leave dis planet instead.” This was the most common form of ork diplomacy, attempting to extort weapons from a foe they perceived to be weaker so that they could then be used against someone stronger. Of course they often returned to their original victims to attack them with their own weapons afterwards, but that was just for fun and many human settlements through out history had succumbed to this tactic. “I do not give in to the demands of primitives.” Mazakatek said sternly, his gaze fixed on Kazkal. Kazkal leapt to his feet. “Primitive?” he roared, “Who ya callin’ primitive? Try dis on for primitive!” and he dived at Mazakatek, his powerclaw-equipped fist held out in front of him. The assembled orks cheered as they watched their leader launch his assault. They had all witnessed him taking his anger out on others before and it never ceased to entertaining. What none of them expected, not even Hazug was for Mazakatek to stand his ground. The overlord made no effort to even avoid the attack and instead stared silently at the charging warboss. Then, just as Kazkal was about to land a killing blow to Mazakatek’s head the overlord just faded away. Kazkal’s expression turned from one of anger to one of confusion and he found himself passing harmlessly straight through the now spectral form of Mazakatek and then tumbling to the floor behind him. The laughter from the orks suddenly ceased, aside from Thuggrim who continued laughing until Drazzok elbowed him in the ribs. The warboss picked himself up and turned around to stare down at Mazakatek who had now regained his solid appearance. “Ya may be able to dodge me once,” he said, “but let’s see ‘ow ya do against me a second time.” And he swung his powerclaw at Mazakatek. Once again the overlord faded as Kazkal struck and the weapon passed through the space the necron occupied without managing to hit him. “Stand aside krork.” Mazakatek said as he regained his solid appearance again, “If you are unwilling to recognise my right to this world then you will suffer the consequences.” “Ya wasn’t ‘ere when da orks arrived.” Kazkal growled, “Finders keepers and all dat. So ya lads is goin’ to be da ones leavin’. Though ya aint goin’ to be goin’ anywhere when I gets me ‘ands on ya.” Kazkal lunged for a third time, but time Mazakatek sidestepped the assault rather than making use of his technology to become immaterial again. As he spun Hazug saw him reach for his waist where an unusual object hung that Hazug had paid no attention before now. As the overlord plucked the object from his waist Hazug observed that it changed appearance as he saw it from different angles, as if it the usual dimensions of the universe were not quite enough to contain it. Even as Kazkal was turning to make another attempt at striking to necron Mazakatek waved his hand over the strange object and it began to pulse with shifting patterns of light. “You are finished krork!” Mazakatek bellowed, “The Huntsman will have his sport!” and then the object he held unfolded. There was a flash and a tremendous gust of wind that pushed the orks back from Mazakatek as a loud of sparkling smoke emerged from the device and began to swirl around in the centre of the room. The overlord took advantage of this distraction to turn around and begin to walk back out of the throne room. An ork nob stepped into his path but the necron but Mazakatek reacted by simply delivering a blow to the ork’s face that knocked him aside as if he were a mere gretchin. “Get ‘im lads!” Kazkal bellowed, pointing his powerclaw at Mazakatek and the party of goffs that had escorted him from the roof rushed to stop him leaving. But as they ran the swirling cloud of lights began to coalesce into something solid. Something that reached out and swept the goffs off their feet. One of them tried to hack at the appendage extending from the cloud, but even as his axe chipped against it, it wrapped itself around him and he screamed in agony as he flesh caught fire. “Let rip!” Hazug yelled and he raised the rifle he had kept by his side and flipped the setting to ‘turbo-dakka’. Every ork in the throne room that had a firearm, which was most of them, opened fire and there was a cacophony of gunfire as they shot into the cloud. A shriek of defiance came from within the cloud as whatever was forming was stuck by hundreds of rounds. But whatever it was, it was tough enough that the shooting did nothing more than irritate it and the floor below the cloud began to be pelted with the blunted bullets fired by the orks. Even Hazug’s explosive bolter ammunition failed to damage whatever was in the cloud. The thing in the cloud was starting to have a discernable shape now, as more of the cloud condensed into solid matter. It was a massive humanoid form, a dull golden colour with a long snout and the long writhing tail that had emerged to strike down the goffs. On its back it had what appeared to be a gigantic bow and a quiver of arrows. It howled as it completed the process of becoming solid then looked down on the orks. “Kill it!” Drazzok shouted, clutching his head, “Kill it quick!” “Waaagh!” Kazkal Kromag himself let loose with the traditional ork warcry and charged, holding his powerclaw up high. Unlike Mazakatek the giant figure neither faded nor dodged out of the way as the warboss charged and there was a flash and a thunderclap of releasing energy as his powerclaw was driven into the Huntsman’s chest and both were blown back from one another. The Huntsman growled as he got back his feet, calmly swatting aside a trio of ork nobs that charged him as he was standing. Then he looked towards Kazkal and let out another howl. “Lookout boss!” Hazug yelled and he dived at Kazkal just as the warboss got back to his feet himself, knocking him back down again just in time for the tip of the Huntsman’s tail to pass over them. Instead it struck an ork mek who was struggling to get his experimental weapon working and he briefly became a pillar of golden flames before he vanished from existence entirely. Skargak plucked a double handed axe with a motorised head from the wall beside him and charged the Huntsman while he was still focused on Hazug and the warboss. But at the last moment the Huntsman sensed Skargak’s approach and whirled around. Reaching out he grasped the goff in both hands and lifted him off the floor. “Geddoff!” Skargak yelled and he thrust the axe towards the Huntsman’s face. The blow connected, but even the powered blade was unable to do more than merely scratch his skin, cutting a shallow groove that vanished as Skargak watched. The Huntsman tightened his grip and Skargak cried out in pain. There were several cracking sounds as Skargak’s ribcage was crushed and then the Huntsman ripped what was left of him in half and flung the pieces aside at the same time as he let out another howl. A bullet struck the Huntsman in his eye, shattering the orb and the Huntsman flinched, clamping a hand over the wound as it began to heal. Looking around he saw Thuggrim steadily advancing towards him, his rifle aimed at his head and firing one heavy round after another. The Huntsman gave a kick and caught Thuggrim in the stomach. The force of the blow lifted Thuggrim off his feet and he was thrown backwards into the orks behind him. “Drazzok! Do somethin’!” Hazug bellowed, looking at the weirdboy. Drazzok did
not react, but the nobs either side of him did and while one wrapped his
arms around the weirdboy’s waist the other snatched his staff away from
him. With so many powerful and enraged orks in close proximity to him, Drazzok was channelling massive amounts of psychic power. Far too much to contain for more than a few seconds without his staff. “Waaagh!” The shout came from Drazzok at the same time as beams of brilliant light erupted from his eyes, mouth and nostrils and shot towards the Huntsman. The giant alien screeched as the energy flowed over him and he staggered backwards under the onslaught of raw psychic power. He brought his tail around, placing it in the path of the beam to try and deflect some of it, but the energy was so great that the Huntsman’s tail simply shattered, leaving only a stump that leaked golden light at the base of his spine. The beam faltered as the power built up in Drazzok began to fade and the two nobs dropped the weirdboy to floor along with his staff. Gasping for breath, Drazzok scrabbled across the floor to his staff and clutched it tightly up against him. Kazkal pushed Hazug aside as he stood up and looked into the Huntsman’s face. “Ya is mine now.” He said and he strode towards the alien. The Huntsman
lower himself down, bending his knees. But before he could land the blow the Huntsman suddenly leapt upwards. The giant figure slammed into the ceiling of the throne room and smashed a hole right through it with a crash, scattering debris below. As the orks left behind rushed towards the hole and looked up there was another crash as he broke though into the next level up and then another… On the roof the orks keeping watch on the necron vehicle heard the muffled sounds of gunfire and screaming. “Wot’s ‘appenin’ Naggan?” one of them asked. “Dunno.” His comrade replied, “But we best keep sharp, just in case.” Then Mazakatek appeared, striding calmly from the doorway towards his vehicle. The two crew looked at him and he waved, pointing towards one of the guards. “Let rip!” Naggan shouted and he aimed his rifle at one of the vehicle’s two crewmen. But before he could fire lighting burst from the weapon mounted beneath vehicle and struck him in the chest. It leapt from Naggan to the ork standing close by and from him to the next nearest ork and continued in this way until it formed a chain of lightning between the orks guards and incinerated them all. Amongst all this Mazakatek calmly boarded his command barge and took his place behind the crew. “Go.” He said, “Take us away from here, but not so far that we cannot bear witness.” |
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