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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 22 | |
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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 22 |
“Come
on!” Hazug yelled at the rest of the raiding party amongst the din of the
explosions continuing to take place and he pulled himself up from the hole
and ran towards the battlewagon that Rell had indicated remained
operational. Pulling himself aboard he darted for the drivers seat,
casting aside his rifle and warscythe and sitting down. Behind him Hazug
could hear the others climbing aboard as he studying the controls briefly.
As he had hoped this particular vehicle was designed for an ork with the
normal number of limbs and so it was easy for Hazug start the engine,
revving it to make certain that it functioned
properly. “Hazug
what are you doing?” Sophie called out through the crowd of orks and
humans squeezed into the vehicle. Designed for around twenty passengers
the battlewagon was overcrowded with the entire raiding party crammed
in. “Getting’
us to da wall.” Hazug replied, “Dare’s still more guns on it wot can ‘it
our wagons when dey come chargin’ over dat ‘ill.” And with that he slammed
his foot down on the accelerator pedal and the battlewagon lurched
forwards. Hazug
drove the vehicle towards the wall by the main gate as quickly as he
could. The possibility of hitting anything along the way did not seem to
bother him much at all and from outside the vehicle there were cries of
panic and pain as Hazug used the sheer bulk and heavy frontal armour of
the battlewagon to simply plough through everything that got in his
way. However,
the problem was that the battlewagon was not fully enclosed and despite
their best effort to keep out of sight the human and marine troops aboard
could not prevent themselves from being spotted. “Gits!”
one of the genestealer orks bellowed a moment before there was a flash of
light from the muzzle of a stormtrooper’s hellgun that burned a neat hole
all the way through his skull. This warning, combined with the flash of
laser fire alerted the others to the presence of the raiding party and all
of a sudden they became a target. “Let
rip!” Hazug bellowed from the driver’s seat in orkish and his commandoes
and servants followed the order immediately, turning the battlewagon from
a simple heavily armoured transport into a mobile pill box with weapons
fire erupting from all sides as it raced towards its
objective. Hazug
slammed on the brakes when the wall appeared in front of him, only the
ruined remains of the heavy weapon emplacements between it and the
battlewagon. Then he grabbed hold of his rifle and warscythe as he leapt
to his feet. “We’re
‘ere!” he yelled, “Now let’s get out dare and kill every one of dm lads on
dat wall. Waaargh!” “Waaargh!”
the other Blood Axes yelled, instinctively repeating the war cry
traditional to their species and they began to leap from the
battlewagon. Thrak
was one of the first out and as soon as his feet hit the ground he lifted
his weapon and pulled the trigger. “Kop
dis!” he shouted, laughing and advancing towards the wall with his finger
held back on the trigger as he sprayed high calibre bullets along the
wall. “Brother
Prosnow, suppressive fire on the wall.” Claudius ordered and the marine
jumped from the battlewagon and rushed to take up a position beside Thrak.
Then he lifted his heavy bolter and opened fire as well, the powerful
weapon producing a pounding noise as the explosive tipped rocket assisted
projectiles were fired at the orks on the wall in short controlled bursts
rather than in the sustained manner Thrak favoured. The
rest of the raiding force, Hazug included spread out around the
battlewagon to form a perimeter to drive back the genestealer controlled
orks as they appeared to defend their fortress. This included the orks
positioned to defend the wall who turned their attention inwards just in
time to miss Batrug as he came driving over the top of the hill in his
truck with its lethal cargo. Batrug
laughed as he saw the gates ahead of him. He could see the defensive
weapons positions along the top of the wall but not one of them was firing
at him and from the sounds coming from the other side of the wall he
guessed that Hazug had something to do with that. He
aligned the truck towards the dead centre of the gates, where the two
halves met and then he pulled a lever he had added to the truck’s
dashboard. This jammed the steering wheel in place, ensuring that the
vehicle would continue along its current course and then he shifted the
engine into neutral to prevent it from stalling and leapt
clear. He
gasped as he landed badly and tumbled some way down the hill. But he was
able to stop himself in time to look up and smile as he saw the truck
still rolling directly towards the massive gates. Then he scrabbled for
the nearest cover and ducked behind it, clamping his hands over his ears
just before the truck impacted on the gates. When
he and Hazug had tried this tactic against the tau the truck they had used
had failed to explode. But this time Batrug’s calculations were spot on
and the rocket fixed to the front of the truck exploded the moment it hit
the gates. The detonation of the rocket itself was enough to blast a hole
the size of a gretchin through the wooden gate but there was more to
follow. The explosive paste loaded around the rocket ignited and spread
the energy released back to the large quantity of explosives. Then as they
detonated the gates were reduced to nothing but splinters flying through
the air.
“Waaargh!” The
cry was repeated not only from the Evil Suns now riding inside the
battlewagon once more but also the orks in the other vehicles as the shout
was heard and passed along by each group in turn. Then almost in unison
the array of vehicles accelerated towards the now wide-open gateway.
Squeezed in at the back of the battlewagon, Cubrim looked on nervously as
the servitor translated Two Heads’ orders for him. Along
the way the truck carrying Batrug’s apprentices came to brief halt to
allow the mekboy to scrabble aboard and pick up his custom made energy
weapon. “Wotcha
waitin’ for Reknel?” he shouted at the apprentice driving the truck and
then it shot forwards once more. The
vehicles did not just race towards the gates however, the weapons they
carried opened fire as soon as their operators saw something worth
shooting at and the gun positions along the tops of the walls were rake
with automatic fire and explosive shells that blew more chunks from the
fortifications. Now realising that they were under attack from both inside
and outside of the camp the orks on the wall turned their attention back
to what seemed to be the greater threat of the approaching column of ork
vehicles outside the walls. “Lads!
Lads to me!” Runnug bellowed as he emerged from his hut with a pistol and
a sword in his hands. He intended to gather a force of orks together and
then show whoever it was attacking the camp that they had made a serious
error in judgement. As he strode through the camp towards the gates, the
group of orks following him growing ever bigger he encountered Graffgan
emerging from the hut he was using, “Wot’s goin’ on?” Runnug
demanded. “Looks
like Kazkal’s onto us already.” Graffgan replied as a pair of purestrain
genestealers appeared behind him in the doorway. “But
‘ow did dey find us?” Runnug asked. “My
guess would be dat gretchin dem bikers who ‘aint back yet was supposed to
find was able to get away and told ‘em.” Graffgan said, “Now take ya lads
and give ‘em all a good kickin’. I’m gonna get da rest of dem,” and he
jabbed a thumb in the direction of the two genestealers and we’ll se if
dare’s anythin’ left after dat.” Krorden’s
buggy was the first vehicle to burst through the gateway into the camp,
Trokken spraying bullets at a nearby group of orks. Then came a second
buggy but by this time the camp’s defenders were better prepared and there
was a ‘whoosh’ as a rocket was fired from the roof of a nearby building.
The explosive projectile struck the buggy’s fuel tank and in an instant it
was turned into a fireball that ploughed onwards before flipping end over
end until it crashed into a ruined strong point. “The
roof!” Rell snapped, pointing. “I’ve
got it.” Jarr replied as he swung his rifle around. Through the sight he
saw an ork frantically trying to reload the rocket launcher he wielded.
But before he could complete the task Jarr put a bullet through his head
and he toppled over the wall around the edge of the roof and plummeted to
the ground below. “We
need to secure these buildings.” Rell then said, turning towards
Hazug. “Go.”
Hazug replied, “Take ya lads and clear ‘em out.” “With
me men.” Rell called out, raising his bolt pistol into the air and as he
started to head for the building where the rocket had been fired from his
stormtroopers went after him. Jarr began to follow him as well, but Rell
held up a hand for him to stop, “No.” he said, “Go with Hazug. Without him
the warboss may not honour his deal to attack the tyrannids. Keep him safe
at all costs.” “Of
course. “Jarr replied before turning back towards Hazug and leaving Rell
and his stormtroopers to continue without him. There
was an all too human scream as the flimsy wall of a hut between the
stormtroopers and their target building was ripped open from within and a
genestealer hybrid burst out, plunging a clawed arm into Forest. Dern
turned to try and help him, but the medic was flung backwards by the
hybrid. Then as the half ork half alien creature turned to attack a third
stormtrooper Rell whirled around and pressed the muzzle of his pistol
against its head. “Die
xenos scum!” he snapped and he pulled the trigger, the explosive round
detonating along with all of its stored fuel inside the hybrid’s skull and
blasting it apart, “Torris report.” Rell said. “Dern’s
fine.” Torris replied as he and Henner helped Dern back to his feet and
returned his rifle. “Good,
then let’s keep moving. We’ve a building to clear.” Rell
said. Two
Heads’ battlewagon then came charging into the camp, its engine roaring
and the weapons mounted to its roof firing continuously. Seeing this Hazug
turned to Claudius. “Okay
we’ve got da gates sorted.” He told the marine, “But dat supa kannon ya
said ya couldn’t take out aint done nought yet. I reckon ya ought to try
and find out why. Oh and it’d be great if ay could kill some more of dese
lads along the way.” Claudius
nodded and beckoned for the marines to follow him, signalling them over
their private communication frequency. Then while the Deathwatch squad
began to head deeper into the camp Hazug turned and waved for his
commandoes and servants to follow him to the
gateway. “Oi
Hazug!” one of Two Heads shouted from his battlewagon when Hazug came into
view, “Want ya squig back?” and then the side hatch dropped open long
enough for Cuddles to leap out. “Cuddles!”
Sophie shouted, “Cuddles come here!” and on hearing its name called out
the squig charged towards her. “Ratish
take ‘old of ‘im.” Hazug ordered and then he saw what he had been looking
for as his own truck came through the gateway, Thuggrim firing bursts of
fire from its mounted weapon at wherever he thought he saw
movement. ”Drazzok!”
Hazug shouted when the truck came to a halt, “Come give us an ‘and with
dis.” The
weirdboy climbed down from the truck, the madboys forming a protective
cordon around him. Then
before Hazug could reply the ground beneath their feet began to
shake. “I
reckon dat someone’s just let da squiggoths out.” Hazug
replied. The
three massive squiggoths charged through the camp, weaving between
buildings and the burning remains of strong points and weapon
emplacements. On top of each one a single ork urged their mount onwards
towards the gate, intending to simply trample the attacking force
underfoot. Seeing
the creatures approach Claudius and his troops moved out of their way,
taking cover between a row of huts before the riders had chance to notice
them. Here an ork inside one of the lightweight buildings spotted the
marines and called out a warning. But before he could actually do anything
against them himself Claudius swung his bolter around and fired a four
round burst that first blasted a hole in the wooden wall between him and
the ork and then in the ork’s chest itself. Then the marines continued
towards their target while the squiggoths lumbered past their
position. Druken
grinned when he saw the squiggoths moving with just a handful of ork
riders aboard the howdahs on the backs of each one. “Dat’s
it lads!” he shouted over the noise of the warcopter’s engine, “Dat’s wot
we’s gonna ‘it!” and he pointed at the squiggoths. Then he turned to
Purgan and yelled at him, “Dive!” The
Evil Suns pilot put the warcopter into a dive that was angled directly at
the closest squiggoth and behind it the second pilot copied this
manoeuvre. Each of the warcopters carried half of Druken’s stormboys and
even those on the second warcopter could tell what their leader intended
them to do and as the pilots of the two aircraft opened fire at the
massive beasts the stormboys were preparing to make their
jump. The
relatively lightweight weapons of the warcopters were adequate for
anti-infantry duties or against light vehicles, but against targets as big
as full grown squiggoths they were of limited use only, the creatures
barely registering the damage to their flesh. Of course the stormboys
carried even lighter weapons, just pistols and hand weapons. But the
squiggoths themselves were not what Druken intended his troops to
target. The
warcopters pulled up again following their brief attack run on the
squiggoths and it was then that Druken jumped from the one he rode
on. “Dare
ya is lads!” the largest of the stormboys aboard the second warcopter
shouted at the others, “We’s jumpin’. Waaargh!” and he too jumped from the
warcopter. However unlike the orks from the other warcopter, when this one
tried to trigger his rocket pack he was rewarded with nothing but an
embarrassing splutter, “Aw crap.” He said to himself before he slammed
into the ground. Sprawled out he cried out in pain and looked own at his
legs to see that both were clear broken. Then a shadow fell across him and
he looked up to see one of the squiggoth towering above him. Giving a roar
of defiance the stormboy lifted his pistol and fired it repeatedly into
the underside of the squiggoths foot before it came down right on top of
him. Meanwhile
Druken and his unit landed on the howdah mounted on one of the squiggoths
and ork roared as he charged towards Druken with an axe. Casually the nob
raised his pistol and shot the genestealer-controlled ork in the shoulder
and as he twisted Druken lashed out with his own blade, the force of the
impact knocking his opponent over the side of the howdah. Then he waved
his troops towards the front of the howdah where the ork rider controlling
the beast was sat. Another okr stood just behind the main rider and as the
stormboys rushed forwards he turned and opened fire with his rifle. Druken
ducked and shot back, but his rounds missed their target. On the other
hand the rifle rounds struck one of the stormboys and he fell backwards
before he too toppled over the side of the howdah. At the moment that the
ork paused to reload his rifle Druken leapt back to his feet and lunged at
him, knocking him over. Then he drove his blade in under his opponent’s
jaw and up into his brain. Beside
him the ork holding the squiggoth’s reins turned and snarled. But even as
he let go on one of the reins and reached for a weapon Druken had let go
of the blade still embedded in his previous opponent and was swinging his
fist at the rider. Striking him hard, Druken knocked the rider from his
seat and he too fell from the howdah. But in one hand he still held one of
the reins tightly and rather than plummeting all the way to the ground he
wound up swinging from the end of the reins and cursing
Druken. The
effect of this on the squiggoth was dramatic and sudden. The creature
sensed the pull from one side and reacted by turning in that direction
without slowing, apparently not caring that this took it directly into the
path of a second squiggoth and the two beasts slammed right into one
another. The
squiggoth struck roared in pain as it toppled sideways and crushed the
huts beneath it. But the damage did not cease there. The first squiggoth
continued along its path and trampled the fallen one underfoot. Unlike the
ork stormboy flattened moments earlier the massive creature was not ground
into a thick red paste but their was the sound of breaking bones as the
fallen creature’s ribcage was smashed and it gave out one last gasp that
sprayed blood forwards from its mouth. The
four survivors from the second group of stormboys landed on the final
squiggoth, ending up scattered around the howdah. One of the four landed
almost right beside the rider holding the reins and as this ork turned
around in surprise he inadvertently pulled back on them sharply causing
the squiggoth rear up on its hind legs, hurling several riders and two of
the stormboys from the howdah. However, unlike the riders who fell to the
ground the stormboys thrown clear both triggered their rocket packs once
more and shot skywards before shutting them down again and dropping back
to the howdah where they now outnumbered the three remaining
riders. The
rider in control of the reins let go of them and allowed the squiggoth to
continue to move according to its own whims while he stood up to deal with
the stormboy behind him. The two orks both swung blades at one another and
there were sparks as the two weapons scraped against one another until
they jammed against one another. It was then that the stormboy remembered
his pistol and pressed the muzzle against the rider’s chest and pulled the
trigger repeatedly. The rider jerked under the impact of the bullets until
he finally toppled from the howdah only for his body to be crushed under
his own squiggoth’s feet. Looking around the stormboy saw that his
comrades had already dealt with the other riders and that they were now in
control of the squiggoth. The
only problem was that none of them had any idea how to control
it. Cooper
was the first to reach the building overlooking the gateway and he pressed
himself against the wall beside the door and pulled a grenade from his
webbing. Henner was the next to arrive and he delivered a single strong
kick to the door that pushed it open while he too dived to one side to
allow Cooper to toss his grenade through. The grenade exploded seconds
later, just in time to allow Rell and the other stormtroopers to rush
inside. The
room immediately beyond the door was empty apart from several ork and
gretchin corpses, but a ‘clump’ from the floor above alerted the
stormtroopers to the presence of more orks up there. Rather than charge up
the stairs and into whatever defence the orks were preparing for them the
hellgun armed stormtroopers simply raised their weapons towards the
ceiling and opened fire on fully automatic, spraying it with laser blasts
powerful enough to punch right through the structure. They ceased fire
when they heard a creaking sound and jumped aside in time to avoid the two
ork corpses that came falling through the weakened
structure. “Onwards.”
Rell ordered,” We need to secure the entire building.” And he rushed up
the nearby stairs, his bolt pistol pointing ahead of
him.
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