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Da Cybork Menace Chapta 18 | |
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Chapta 18 |
“Move quicker grots!” the runtherd bellowed at his charges as they hauled the massive torpedo into position and pushed it into the tube. There was a barely audible scream as one of them was caught in front of it and squashed flat against the inside of the tube. “Now shut da door!” the runtherd shouted, whipping the nearest of the gretchin for no other reason than they were close enough for him to able to do so. The torpedo tube hatch slammed shut, and a gretchin standing on a platform beside the hatch secured it with a large bolt before waving a brightly coloured flag. Seeing the flag, another gretchin standing at the back of the torpedo room yelled into a small hole beside him. “Rokkits ready!” he shouted. The gretchin’s voice was carried down the hole until it reached another gretchin listening at the other end. He in turn shouted the same message into a different hole for another gretchin to hear. In this way the message was carried through the warship for almost half its length to the bridge over a mile away where it was heard by another gretchin. “Da rokkits is ready boss,” the gretchin told the ship’s captain. “Is we on target?” the captain asked a mekboy who stood with his eyes pressed up to what looked like a microscope mounted on one of the control consoles. “We is now,” the mekboy answered as he adjusted a dial next to his targeting system. “Good,” the captain said, then to one of the gretchin on the bridge he said, “I want all da gunners ready to shoot at da explosion when dey see it,” and the gretchin passed his order. The captain nodded at the mekboy, and he jabbed his thumb down on a large red button prominently labelled ‘FIRE DA ROKKITS’. The torpedo salvo blasted away from the cruiser. Most of them successfully cleared the ship without failing, but by the time that they reached the atmosphere a full third of them had lost control, shut down or detonated prematurely. The remaining torpedoes continued on their path towards the site identified by mek Corgut. Their passage through the atmosphere appearing as a swarm of fiery streaks in the sky over the ork city below that caused many of its inhabitants to stop what they were doing and gaze skywards. “Hazug, come and see!” Sophie said excitedly as she burst into the room where he sat snoozing by the fire. “Wot?” he asked startled as he awoke. “Come and look at the sky,” Sophie said to him, pulling his arm to get him out of the chair. “Let go,” he said as he got up, “I is getting’ up. Now lets see wots so important.” Sophie led him outside where Rhia was already staring up at the sky as a cluster of balls of fire streaked across it. Hazug turned his head to follow the lights until they disappeared over the horizon. Moments later there was a flash from the point where they had disappeared and the sky on the horizon there turned orange. “It looked like what happened when that spaceship was shot down,” Sophie said, referring to the recent destruction of an ork cruiser that had taken them on a journey across the planet, “has another one been destroyed?” “Nah,” Hazug replied, “dare’s wasn’t enough junk for dat. I reckon dey was rokkits.” As Hazug spoke the sky was once more lit up by smaller bright flashes of light that followed the path of the torpedoes over the horizon. “I reckon dat I better go see da boss about dis,” he said, “everyone get in da truck.” “’E’s not in,” the guard told Hazug when he pulled up to Warboss Kromag’s palace. “I needs to see ‘im,” Hazug said, “where’d ‘e go?” “Dunno, dat mek wot runs da flyboys for ‘im turned up after ya left and den da boss got together an ‘ole bunch of lads in wagons and went off with ‘em. Dey looked well chuffed to be goin’ so I reckon dey was expectin’ a good scrap.” “Did ‘e take Corgut with ‘im?” “Who?” “Da mek.” “Oh ‘im, nah. ‘E buggered off back to ‘is planes.” Hazug drove off. “Where are we going now?” Sophie asked. “To find Corgut. Looks like da boss ordered da cruiser to shoot at somethin’ and I want to know wot.” They found Corgut in one of the hangars, he and his gretchin were still working on getting the air wing based in the city back up and running in the cold weather. “I’m busy,” the mek said as soon as he saw Hazug getting out of his truck. “Den ya better answer me questions quick den,” Hazug told him, “Now where’s da boss gone?” “To deal with dat bad dok,” Corgut answered, “if ‘e even still alive. I’m bettin’ dat da kroozer will ‘ave killed ‘im and all ‘is cyborks an all.” “So da boss did order a kroozer to blast somethin’ den?” “Yeah, ‘e didn’t want da bad dok getting’ away again.” “And ‘ow did ‘e know where to go?” “I got some fightas workin’, and two of ‘em followed dem kans back to sheds by da water. Now can if I don’t get more of ‘em workin’ den da boss is goin’ to do wot ‘e did to da last mek dat ran dis place.” “I is done,” Hazug said, “But who’s pilot wot told ya where da dok was ad where is ‘e now?” “‘E’s called Kaglort, and ‘e is drinkin’ in da bar by da gate. But dey won’t let in, it for speed freaks only, so no git lovers is allowed.” Hazug returned to his truck. “I can’t go where da da lad I’m lookin’ for is,” Hazug said as he started the vehicle’s engine. “So where are we going then?” Sophie asked him. “To get someone wot can.” Only a few of the orks in the bar, mainly those nearest to the main entrance, bothered to look up when the wooden door shattered as the guard placed outside to make sure that only the speed freaks of the Evil Suns were admitted was thrown through it. “See!” Two Heads Smasha Butt Face both yelled as the stepped through the splintered remains of the door, “I told ya I could make ya go fasta dan da flyboys in ‘ere!” At the sound of this the bar fell silent and the occupants all stared at the newcomer, scowling at him. Any suggestion that there was anyone faster than them was a mortal insult to the ork pilots gathered together, and under normal circumstances they would have torn the culprit limb from limb until he learned some manners. But Two Heads was a special case. Firstly he was much bigger than the assembled pilots. Their obsession with speed had lead them to pursue a way of life that did not involve enough of the close combat that triggered muscle growth in orks to allowed them to get large enough to be considered nobs like Two Heads, hence their leaders instead being the meks who built and maintained their precious aircraft. Secondly, even though they had never met Two Heads, they had all heard of him and would rather someone else hit him first so that he would be too busy killing them to notice someone else sticking a blade in him, and finally there were the half dozen orks with rifles now entering the bar behind him. “Right,” one of Two Heads said calmly,” Which one of ya flyboys is Kaglort?” the other continued. The bar’s occupants just stared back at Two Heads in silence. Two Heads looked either side of him and nodded at his troops and gunfire echoed around the room as Two Heads mob fired over the heads of the bar’s customers. In unison, they ducked for cover. “It’s ‘im! ‘E’s Kaglort!” one of the gretchin waiters cried out from beneath the table he had sought cover under and he pointed at a nearby ork. Two Heads pushed his way across the bar and grabbed the ork pointed at by his collar and lifted him back to his feet. “So is ya Kaglort den?” one of Two Heads asked the ork, as the other looked him up and down. “I is,” the ork replied, followed by a gulp. The he smiled at Two Heads and added, “’Ow can I ‘elp ya?” “Dare’s someone outside wants a word,” Two Heads replied, and he dragged Kaglort from the bar. Outside Hazug and his servants waited by Hazug’s truck. “Dis is ‘im,” Two Heads said to Hazug and he let go of Kaglort. “So Kaglort, Corgut tells me dat ya followed a bunch of kans today,” Hazug said. “Dat’s right,” Kaglort replied, “I followed ‘em to da ocean, and den I was told to get back ‘ere after I called in wot I seen.” “And wot was dat?” “Just an ‘ole load of lads standin’ around,” Kaglort said. “Wot, dey was just out in da open?” “Yeah, dare was some big long sheds near ‘em, but dey was outside where I could see ‘em.” Hazug frowned. “Tell me abut dese sheds,” he said. “I dunno,” Kaglort said and he shrugged, “dey was just big long sheds wot went into da water.” “Into da water?” Hazug repeated. “Yeah, into da water, and some of ‘em ‘ad doors open into it.” “Doors? ‘Ow big was dey?” “Big enough for a wagon I reckon.” “Boats,” Hazug
said suddenly, “da sheds was for boats.” “It means dat if Gutstitch saw ‘is fighta,” Hazug said, indicating Kaglort, “den ‘e probably got away before da kroozer blasted where dey was.” “So where is ‘e now den?” Two Heads asked. “I got a feelin’ ‘e’s on ‘is way ‘ere,” Hazug said. |
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