Waaargh! Hazug!

Chapta 12

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 Waaargh! Hazug!

Prologue

Chapta 1

Chapta 2

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Chapta 4

Chapta 5

Chapta 6

Chapta 7

Chapta 8

Chapta 9

Chapta 10

Chapta 11

Chapta 12

Chapta 13

Chapta 14

Chapta 15

Chapta 16

Chapta 17

Chapta 18

Chapta 19

Chapta 20

Chapta 21

Chapta 22

Chapta 23

Chapta 24

Chapta 25

Chapta 26

Chapta 27

Chapta 28

Chapta 29

Chapta 30

Chapta 31

Epilogue


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“Now captain?” Prosnow asked as the ork vehicle halted.

“Not yet.” Claudius replied, “Wait for the xenos to get clear of their vehicle.”

The marines watched patiently as the orks disembarked from their vehicle and rushed towards the wrecked drop pod. The data feed from the pod to Claudius’ armour indicated that the machine spirit was still active, but without its storm bolter the pod was defenceless.

When they reached the pod some of the orks began rummaging through the pieces that had been blown off by their attack while the rest focused on trying to pull of anything still attached that looked useful

“Now!” Claudius snapped and in unison the marines opened fire. Eight bolters, a bolt pistol and a heavy bolter all firing at the same time put a lot of shots into the area occupied by the ork mob and it was only their natural resilience that prevented all of them being wiped out in an instant. As it was only two of them survived because they were shielded from the worst of the bolter fire by the drop pod itself.

The two surviving orks returned fire, but their pistols were no match for marine bolters and lacked the penetrating power to pierce their power armour unless they were fortunate enough to find a weak point. For the marines the problem was that the wrecked drop pod provided the two orks with excellent cover. However, they had with them a weapon that was designed to root out enemies who sought to hide from the wrath of the Deathwatch.

“Brother Mortium. Advance. We will cover you.” Claudius ordered.

“Understood.” Mortium replied and as he got to his feet he holstered his pistol and unslung his flamer. Moving around the drop pod while his fellow marines continued to keep the orks attention focused on them he activated the weapon’s ignition system and aimed it towards the pod. Then he dropped to one knee and pulled the trigger. There was a sudden ‘Whoosh!’ as a jet of burning promethium was projected towards the drop pod. The burning liquid flowed around the structure of the drop pod and enveloped the two orks, producing screams of pain as their flesh burned. Knowing that his task was complete Mortium released the trigger to avoid wasting precious ammunition.

“Targets eliminated captain.” He said as the other marines emerged from cover.

 

The jet of flame was highly visible from the sky.

“Wot was dat?” Krask exclaimed when he saw it.
”Looked like a burna.” Hazug replied and he lifted the tau viewing device back to his eye. Then he zoomed in on the source of the flames and could hardly believe what he was seeing. Right there standing over the bodies of several dead orks were the unmistakable forms of a full squad of space marines and Hazug frowned.

“Take us back to da others.” He called out to the pilot, “I gotta ‘ave a little word with dat Rell.”

The warcopter’s pilot turned to head back towards the ground convoy, the second aircraft following behind him. The convoy was exactly where it was supposed to be, circling around the outside of the forest where the genestealers had attacked Hazug and the two warcopters descended, setting down in front of the lead truck. The convoy came to a halt, the various trucks and armoured vehicles spreading out into a line abreast rather than a single column.

Hazug jumped down from the warcopter and strode towards Two Heads’ battlewagon, knowing that was where he would find Rell. As he neared the vehicle a side hatch opened and Two Heads jumped down from it.

“Dat Rell still in dare?” Hazug asked.
”Sure.” One of the Two Heads replied before the other one added, “I reckon ya ought to talk to ‘im. Sophie says dat ‘e’s told ‘er dat dare’s more gits turned up. Dey is sort of ‘is lot, but not quite. Ya better ask ‘im.”

“I don’t need to ask about whether dey is ‘ere.” Hazug replied, “I already seen ‘em.” Then he looked down at Two Heads hyperphase sword, “Ya know ‘ow to use dat properly?” he asked.

“Sure I do.” Two Heads answered.

“Good. Cause ya may just need it real soon.”

Hazug then climbed into the battlewagon and grabbed hold of Rell.

“Hazug what are you doing?” Sophie exclaimed and Rell’s stormtroopers all reached for their weapons.
”Stand down!” Jarr snapped, knowing that if even one of them pulled a trigger the orks would turn on them in a heartbeat.

Hazug thrust the tau viewing devices into Rell’s hand.

“Look.” He told the inquisitor in gothic, “Press dat and look. Keep pressin’.”

Rell lifted the device to his eye and looked into it. Then when he pressed the button indicated by Hazug and rather than showing what was directed towards at the time, the image produced by the device was a magnified one of the marines as Hazug had seen them from the air.

“So wotcha got to say for yaself den?” Hazug asked and he let go of Rell.

“The Deathwatch.” The inquisitor said.

“Deathwatch? Here?” Jarr repeated.

“What’s the Deathwatch?” Salia asked.

“The Deathwatch is a force of Adeptus Astartes that work directly with the Ordos Xenos.” Rell said as he handed the tau viewing device back to Hazug, “Alien hunters.”
”Adeptus Astartes?” Salia asked.
”You may know them as space marines mon’keigh.” Mayleth commented with a smile, “Those few my people captured made worthy opponents in the arenas of Commorragh.”

“So wot is dey doin’ ‘ere?” Hazug said to Rell.

“Not all of my peers feel as I do about persuading you to attack the tyrannids. They believe that it is not possible.” Rell replied, “My presence here is unauthorised. My guess would be that they are here to either kill me or take me back to face judgement.”

“Which would also be a death sentence.” Jarr commented.

“Indeed.” Rell added in agreement.

Hazug frowned.
”Den we is just gonna ‘ave to deal with ‘em first aint we?” he said and Rell sighed.

“My men are equipped to deal with them if necessary.” Torris said and he patted his hell gun.

“I would rather that was not necessary sergeant.” Rell replied, “They are Imperial troops following orders after all.”

“Isn’t there some way we could persuade them to join us?” Sophie asked.
”Once the Astartes are given orders they follow them through.” Cubrim told her.

“But didn’t he say that the people who sent them here thought that the orks wouldn’t work with you?” Salia asked.

“That’s right.” Sophie agreed, “What if you could show them that we are working together?”

“Marines do adapt to changing situations.” Jarr said.
”Perhaps if they were shown proof of the presence of genestealers on the planet.” Cubrim added.
”Or ya could just tell ‘em dat we’ll kill ‘em all if dey don’t agree to give up.” Hazug said sternly, “Dare’s only ten of ‘em. I’ve faced worse odds loads of times.”

“Very well.” Rell said, “I will attempt to talk to them.”
”Den I’ll tell da others dat we is movin’ out.” Hazug said, “Get ya lads aboard da other copta. We’ll go in first and da others can back us up.” Then he left the battlewagon again and walked up to Two Heads, “Dare’s a bunch of marines ‘ere.” He said and both Two Heads frowned.

“Beakies? ‘Ere?” one asked, “’Ow come?” the other added.

“Rell reckons dey is ‘ere for ‘im.” Hazug replied, “But ‘e’s gonna try and talk ‘em into joinin’ us instead.”

“Da lads aint gonna like dat.” Two Heads warned.
”Well dey don’t ‘ave to like it. Dey just ‘as to do as dey is told.” Hazug replied.

“And wot ‘appens when da boss finds out?” one of Two Heads asked while the other just glared at Hazug.

“Da boss said dat I should take wotever lads I needs.” Hazug reminded him, “Ya was dare. Well if dese marines is wot I ‘as been told dey is den we needs ‘em. So I is just followin’ orders.”

“Ya better ‘ope da boss sees it dat way.” Two Heads replied and then the other added a warning, ”Cause I aint backin’ ya up if ‘e don’t.”

 

Tenus and Corrim kept watch while the other marines went over what was left of the drop pod in search of anything useful. There were emergency kits included for all ten passengers that the pod had carried that contained supplies that would bolster their meagre supplies somewhat, but did not offer anything that they did not already have in their own personal equipment.

“The storm bolter.” Greystorm said.

“Wrecked.” Claudius replied, “In any case it is not designed to be detached and fired by hand.”
”No brother captain, I was thinking of its ammunition.” Greystorm said, “It will be compatible with our own bolters and bolt pistols.”

Claudius nodded.
”Good point. See if any remains.” He said and the marine with a shoulder pad in the colours of the Space Wolves chapter climbed up into the wreckage to examine the storm bolter.
”Contact!” Corrim said suddenly, his voice broadcast across the squad’s communication net, “Multiple ork vehicles approaching from the south.”

“Reinforcements for the unit we destroyed?” Slyder suggested as the squad moved towards Corrim’s position.

“They did not have the opportunity to signal for assistance.” Varrin pointed out, “Nor the equipment.”
”I find it hard to believe that two groups of orks could simply stumble across us by accident in so short a space of time.” Vartus commented.
”Most likely they observed our descent and are here to loot the drop pod.” Claudius pointed out, well aware of the ork habit of looting whatever they came across either to use the items as they were or as parts for any of the infinite number of ramshackle creations they came up with. Corrim had taken cover in a narrow gully formed by a stream. Over time the water had eroded a channel that was now deep enough for the Deathwatch marines to use as an impromptu trench.

Two vehicles were approaching the marine position. Both used a mix of tracks and wheel for locomotion and were completely enclosed, concealing their occupants from view even with a space marine’s enhanced vision. For one of these, the rear section was covered only by what looked like pieces of assorted fabrics and animal hides stitch together to form a cover large enough while the second vehicle appeared to be fully armoured.

For Claudius this armoured vehicle was the greater source of concern. His squad was not equipped for anti-tank operations and while they all carried krak grenades that could probably damage it from the sides or rear, using them meant getting dangerously close. Fortunately the captain knew that orks favoured getting close to their targets. Not only was dealing with their enemies in close combat a matter of preference, their marksmanship was notoriously poor. He also knew that the eagerness of the orks to get into battle might result in them abandoning the protection offered by their vehicles to come at the marines on foot.

“Prosnow.” He said to the marine armed with the heavy bolter, “Prepare to engage that soft covered vehicle. Everyone else stand by to engage any passengers that disembark.”

“Ready captain.” Prosnow responded and he lifted the heavy bolter to the height of his shoulder, resting it on the side of the gully.

The two ork vehicles continued to head towards the wrecked drop pod, guided by the smoke that still drifted upwards from parts of it. This path took them right past the marines and Captain Claudius and his men turn to keep track of them.

“Now!” Claudius snapped as the vehicles presented their side armour to the marines and Prosnow opened fired with his heavy bolter. The powerful rounds ripped through the fabric covering and there were sudden screams from inside as they also penetrated some of the passengers concealed within before detonating. Then a round missed the covered rear area and instead punched through the side of the engine, exploding inside it and bringing the vehicle to a sudden halt. At the same time the rear of the vehicle was thrown open and the remaining passengers began to leap out.

“Open fire!” Claudius ordered and aside from Mortium the remaining marines opened fire, firing individually aimed shots at the orks as soon as they appeared.

Tenus grinned as he saw one of his rounds strike an ork who’s appearance was hidden beneath a hooded robe and there was a plume of blood that indicated the shot had struck a limb. But then from beneath the cloak a pair of uninjured arms appeared and reached out towards him as the ork came charging closer at a rate faster than Tenus had ever seen an ork move before now.

Meanwhile the driver of the second ork vehicle had swung it around and was charging straight at the marines in the gully. Prosnow turned his attention to this vehicle and fired a short burst from his heavy bolter, but although every round hit the vehicle and exploded right against its hull, it kept on coming.

“Brother Prosonow, cease fire.” Claudius ordered, “Conserve your ammunition.”

“Yes captain.” Prosnow replied as he stopped shooting.

The orks forced to disembark from the disabled battlewagon then did something unexpected, they split up and began to spread out. The marines had expected them to charge headlong right at them, an action that would have made them vulnerable to the marines bolters fired on fully automatic at close range. But by spreading themselves out they did not form the closely spaced clumps that were vulnerable to automatic fire or grenades. In addition the second battlewagon was still closing in on them.

“Why aren’t they firing?” Varrin asked and Claudius realised that the marine was correct, the orks had yet to fire a single shot in reply to their ambush despite both vehicles clearly mounting belt fed weapons on their roofs or fired through portholes.

“Just keep shooting.” Claudius said, “We do not need to question the alien, only to kill him.” and then he put a bolt round through the head of an ork.

“They’re in the gully!” Slyer yelled as some of the first orks to disembark from their battlewagon reached the gully some way down and began to leap down into it. Thanks to the way it curved, this put them out of sight of the marines for now.

“Mortium,” Claudius said, “drive them back.”
”Yes captain.” The marine armed with the flamer answered and he darted past his fellow marines to the end of their line. From here he had a good view along the gully for about fifteen metres until it curved out of sight. Thanks to his enhanced hearing and the systems built into his powered armour he heard the orks before he saw them and he raised his flamer. He held his fire as the first of the orks appeared before him, waiting until there were enough of them in sight to make using the flamer worthwhile and then with a single pull of the trigger he filled the gully in front of him with flames.

The orks closest to Mortium died without a sound, the flames engulfed them and burned their lungs before they could cry out but the orks further back screamed as they were set alight. One of them then did something particularly unexpected. He leapt up the side of the gully to the ground above and ripped off the cloak that concealed his features, tossing the burning garment back into the gully. Such an agile move was out of character for an ork but now that his cloak was gone Mortium could see that this was no ordinary ork. Apart from the misshapen head that could have been caused by any one of the injuries orks typically suffered from during their lives the ork possessed an extra pair of arms that ended in clawed hands. As a member of the Deathwatch Mortium knew exactly what that meant.

“Genestealers!” he yelled as he dropped his flamer and drew his pistol again, trying to target the hybrid rushing along the top of the gully. But before he got the chance to fire a shadow fell over him and he looked up the other side of the gully to see another cloaked figure looming above him and he spun around to face it as it jumped down towards him. He pointed his bolt pistol at the figure’s head, but he reacted fast enough to grab hold of the pistol in both hands and push it aside so that when Mortium fired the round instead blasted a hole in the mud at the side of the gully. Then from beneath his cloak the hybrid reached out with a clawed hand and slashed Mortium’s throat open. The claws of a genestealer were capable of ripping open even tanks and so the relatively weak protection offered by Mortium’s power armour at his neck was unable to offer any protection and a spurt of blood sprayed across the gully wall.

“Mortium’s down!” Tenus exclaimed and he turned just in time to fire a burst of bolter rounds into the hybrid that had just killed his fellow marine and then put another shot into the one that had leapt clear of the flamer blast.

“Recover his flamer.” Claudius ordered, “We may still need it.”

The second ork vehicle drove right up to the edge of the gully and the soft dirt of the side gave way, tipping the front of the vehicle into it. Fortunately for Claudius none of his troops were caught beneath the vehicle though the squad was now separated by it, with Claudius and four of his men on one side and the remaining four on the other.

However, this was also the opportunity that Claudius had been hoping for.

“Fire in the hole!” he shouted as he plucked a grenade from his equipment harness, pulled out the pin and shoved it through a vision slit right in front of him. Rather than an anti-armour krak grenade he had selected a fragmentation one so that when it went off the inside of the vehicle was filled with shrapnel that bounced around until it found something soft enough to block it and this meant the bodies of the orks inside. Unfortunately in the time it took Claudius to prepare and deliver the grenade most of the battlewagon’s passengers were already leaping out of the back of the vehicle and then down into the gully.

Standing closest to the vehicle on the far side from Claudius Slyder was the first target of the hybrids as one of them leapt down on top of him. He was able to press the muzzle of his bolter up against the hybrid and fired two shots into its abdomen as the alien’s jaw snapped at his faceplate and attempted to bite through it but then the creature used its extra clawed arm to rip the bolter free of his grasp and hurled it aside before using a single claw to punch through one of Slyder’s eyepieces.

“By the Spear of Russ, die foul xenos!” Greystorm yelled at the hybrid that had just killed his squad mate and when the hybrid turned to face him it found itself facing his combat blade. Thrusting this forwards, Greystorm drove the tip of his blade into the hybrid under its jaw and sliced downwards, opening up its chest and causing its major organs to spill out into the gully.

Knowing that with his men split into two groups unable to assist one another they would undoubtedly be overwhelmed Claudius accepted that it was time to seek a better position from which to fight the aliens.

“Fall back.” Claudius ordered, “Fall back to the drop pod.”

Greystorm growled, understanding the order to fall back even if he did not like it. Then he the other marines with him, Abram, Corrim and Varrin, began to fall back along the gully. They took turns to halt and provide covering fire, holding back the orks and hybrids while the other three retreated.

On the other side of the crashed battlewagon however, the marines found their path back to the drop pod blocked by the wreck and were left with no option but to scale the side of the gully. Prosnow went first, heaving his heavy bolter up with him and then turning to face the soft skinned battlewagon he had already disabled. It was then that the orks finally opened fire with a short burst from one of the automatic weapons mounted to the vehicle hitting Prosnow. Most of the soft tipped bullets simply bounced off the hardened ceramite of his powered armour, but one of them was able to penetrate his right shin and he toppled over before returning fire. The burst of heavy bolter shells he fired found their target, the vision slit used to aim the weapon just used against him and from inside the battlewagon there was a brief cry before the weapon drooped.

“Brother Prosnow, can you stand?” Claudius asked as he too climbed from the gully.

“I think so.” Prosnow replied.
”Vartus, take his heavy bolter.” Claudius ordered and then he dived to the ground as there was another burst of fire from the battlewagon. Evidently there were still more orks or hybrids inside to take over operation of the weapon. Part of this burst struck Vartus the back and there was a flash of light as the backpack mounted power supply for his armour failed. Where just a moment earlier Vartus had been wearing armour that fully supported its own weight he was now having bare that weight himself. The enhanced muscles of a marine were quite capable of doing this for a short time but the sudden change caught him by surprise and he slid back down into the gully where a trio of orks leapt on top of him and began to hack at him with the crude bladed weapons thy carried, ignoring their pistols.

Luckily for Vartus he was not alone in the gully, Tenus was still there and he swung the butt of his bolter like a club to knock one of the orks aside before turning the weapon around and shooting the ork in the chest. A second ork roared as it turned, swinging its blade at Tenus’ head and there was a scraping sound as the tip dragged across his faceplate and then snapped. This gave Tenus the opportunity to fire again, emptying the last of his current magazine into the ork. Tenus then reached for his combat blade, but as he did so another hybrid lunged at him from behind and grabbed hold of his wrist with a clawed hand, twisting it so hard that it broke. Tenus winced but did not cry out, his altered metabolism acting to control the pain. However, he was now caught between the ork in front of him and the hybrid behind and was holding only an empty bolter.

It was Captain Claudius himself that saved both Tenus and Vartus, leaping back down into the gully and drawing his sword. The moment it was free of its scabbard there was a hum and green sparks moved from the hilt to the tip as the power field generator concealed with it activated. Claudius swung the power sword as the ork was still coming to terms with his sudden reappearance and before the alien could react, Claudius sliced his head from his shoulders. This just left the hybrid. Had the alien been using one of its normal arms to hold onto Tenus wrist it may have stood a chance of being able to injure Claudius but as it was the powerful claws it possessed were still being used to restrain the other marine and when Claudius extended his arm forwards the power sword passed close by Tenus’ helmet before skewering the hybrid through its head.

“Tenus, Vartus.” Claudius said, ”Report.”

“My armour is damaged captain.” Vartus replied, his voice muffled by his own helmet, “No power to any systems.
”My armour is functional, but my wrist is broken captain.” Tenus added as he slung his bolter over his shoulder and instead drew the bolt pistol that he could make better use of single-handed and then there was another burst of fire from the battlewagon.

Claudius assessed the tactical situation. Though one half of his squad had been able to fall back, he was now pinned down with one marine in damaged armour and two who were injured. Overall things were looking grim.

“Abram, what is your position?” Claudius transmitted, hoping that the rest of the squad could still be in a position to assist him.

“We’re almost at the pod captain. Just exiting the gully now. The enemy is in pursuit. Estimate twenty plus.” Abram responded.

This was not good. The other half of his men were in no position to help Claudius, while he was in no position to get the three men left with him to safety. Then there was a flash from overhead followed by the distinctive sound of a missile and the battlewagon that had been keeping them pinned down suddenly exploded.

 

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