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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 27 | |
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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 27 |
The
airbase just outside Kazkal Kromag’s capital city was the only place on
the planet equipped to handle the large ork shuttlecraft, with half a
dozen pads provided for the vessels that could be more than a hundred
metres in length and carry several thousand orks in one
go. When
Hazug and his warband arrived at the airbase though only one shuttle was
present and this was significantly smaller. But it was still large enough
for what Hazug wanted. At the edge of the landing pad was a small hut
where the shuttle crew would rest between flights and it was here that
Hazug headed. Inside he found about a dozen orks wearing spacesuits in the
red of the Evil Suns, all clustered around a table playing
cards. “I
needs to get me and me lads up to da ‘ulk.” He
announced. “Talk
to Frognak. ‘E’s da boss.” One of them said without looking up. “Ah,
right.” Hazug said and he went back outside, walking towards the hut. As
he neared it an ork nob also wearing a space suit in Evil Suns colours
emerged, frowning and waving a hand in front of his
face. “I’d
give it a while I was ya.” The Evil Sun said, “Dat was a big
‘un.” “Is
ya Frognak? Cause I needs to get to da ‘ulk.” Hazug
said. “Nah.”
Frognak replied and he pointed across the airbase towards a row of
hangars, “Dare’s another one over dare. No need to go up to ‘ulk just to
take a-“ “Don’t
worry.” Hazug said, placing a hand on the Evil Sun’s shoulder and guiding
him towards the cluster of vehicles that had brought the warband here,
“See, no humans. Just ‘alf a dozen mobs of lads and two big
crates.” “Wot’s
in da crates?” Frognak asked suspiciously. “Live
squigs.” Hazug said, “Da weirdo likes ‘em fresh when ‘e eats ‘em and reads
dare entrails.” Hearing
this Drazzok scowled and Frognak was clearly
unconvinced. “Well
maybe I ought to take a look through one of dem air ‘oles.” He said and he
walked up to one of the bulky crates and attempted to peer through one of
the small holes drilled in the side. However, the interior was so dark
that he could not make anything out. Looking around he caught sight of a
gretchin dragging a missile by one of its tail fins. “Oi!
Grot!” he yelled, “Drop dat bomm and come over
‘ere.” Hazug
flinched as the gretchin let go of the missile, expecting it to suddenly
explode but it failed to do so and the gretchin came running over to him
and Frognak. “Just
see if ya can see any squigs inside dem crates.” Frognak commanded him and
the gretchin ran up to the nearest crate, peering through one on of the
holes. “I
don’t see nought.” He said, “Don’t ‘ear nought either.” Then he stepped
back and poked a finger through the hole, “Nah. Dare’s aint no squigs in
dis box boss.” He said, “If dare was den dey’d ‘ave-“ and all of a sudden
he screamed and began to try and pull his finger out, “Arggh! Me finger!
Squig’s got me finger!” and as the gretchin wrenched his hand away from
the crate he held it up to reveal the stump of a finger bitten off at the
first knuckle. “Looks
good enough for me.” Frognak said as the gretchin ran off waving his
bleeding hand about. Get loaded and we’ll get movin’. Its two teeth per
lad by the way and another three for each of ya
crates.” “Dis
ought to cover it.” Hazug said, handing over a bag of teeth and Frognak
grinned. Inside
the shuttle the members of the warband sat on benches positioned in rows
along the passenger cabin while the two crates were secured in the hold
behind them. Drazzok
sat beside Hazug and glared at him. “Ya
does know dat I don’t read entrails dontcha?” he asked, “Cause dat’s all
nonsense.” “Sure.”
Hazug replied, “I just needed an excuse, dat’s all.” “Right
den,” Frognak’s voice announced from a speaker, “we is about to take off
so I’ll just go over da safety notices. Dis landa’s perfectly safe. It
aint crashed yet so it must be. But if dare is an emergency den da
emergency exits is located wherever ya can make an ‘ole in da ‘ull. But I
suggests ya don’t do dat until after we crashes cause makin’ an ‘ole is
likely to make us crash in da first place. In da event of a loss of air
den I’ll send a runt round with air masks dat ya can buy for a very
reasonable fee or alternatively ya can just try ‘oldin’ ya breath,
either’s fine by me. Now me mekboys is signallin’ to me dat dare’s nothin’
wrong with da landa dat ‘e can do ought about so I is about to start da
engines. Dose of ya wot’s got over ‘ead luggage may want to start ‘oldin’
it over ya ‘ead right about now.” And then the speakers went silent before
there was a sudden ‘Thunk!’ followed by a roaring sound as the shuttle’s
rocket engines ignited. The roar became a splutter, followed by a ‘Crash!’
as something fell off the shuttle and then a roar again as it took to the
air. There
were no windows in the shuttle’s passenger compartment so the first that
any of the warband knew that they had left the atmosphere was when the
sensation of weightlessness hit them. “’Ey
look I can fly!” one of the madboys yelled as he pushed himself up into
the air, flapping his arms about. “Get
back down ‘ere ya loony!” Drazzok snapped. “Best
do as ‘e says.” Hazug added, “Ya don’t wanna be up dare when we reaches da
‘ulk.” “Why
not master?” Ratish asked as he struggled to keep a confused looking
Cuddles from also floating up from the deck. “Cause
da ‘ulk’s got gravity.” Hazug pointed out, “So when we gets to it anythin’
still up dare is comin’ right back down again.” The
madboy flapped his arms again, trying to get back down to his place on the
bench, but all he managed to do was propel himself even higher until all
of a sudden gravity returned and he gave out a yell as he plummeted back
to the deck. “Told
ya so.” Hazug said. There
were several other shuttles in the cavernous docking bay when Hazug and
his warband began to disembark, most of which appeared larger than the one
they had just made the trip from the surface in. Between these orks and
gretchin, many of who were clad in crude space suits carried tools and
equipment to hatches leading deeper into the structure of the hulk. The
majority of these wore the blue and white of the Death Skulls,
unsurprising given their role in ripping apart the interior of the hulk to
make it more suitable for use as a gigantic space warship, but there were
also a sizeable number of Evil Suns in red and a smattering of Bad Moons
in yellow and Goffs in black. Only the Snake Bite and Blood Axe clans were
missing and again this did not surprise Hazug. The Snake Bites had little
interest in technology beyond how to use it to kill someone, while there
were no other Blood Axes in the system other than those who had
accompanied Hazug here. Hazug also spotted several of the armoured walking
vehicles known as dreadnoughts, or ‘kans’ in ork slang. The larger ‘death
dreds’ had a single ork surgically implanted into them to live out the
rest of his days at the heart of the powerful machine, while the smaller
‘killer kans’ instead made use of a gretchin pilot who was similarly
implanted. Despite the risks and limitations of life once implanted into
such machines pilots tended to be volunteers, after all to greenskins
bigger was better and might made right so suddenly becoming one with an
armoured suit that gave them the strength to tear through metal was not to
be scoffed at. Though intended for combat when fitted with claws and buzz
saws for cutting and tearing these armoured monstrosities made excellent
work vehicles as well, especially when modified for use in a vacuum as the
bulky air canisters fitted to most suggested these
were. As
Hazug looked around he also approached Drazzok. Drazzok
shook his head in response. “Den
da genestealers aint taken over da ‘ole ship yet.” Hazug said before he
addressed the rest of the warband, ”Right lads, we needs to find out about
da layout of dis place. We’s probably lookin’ for somewhere dat’s been
sealed off or ‘as just a few lads wot goes dare. Start askin’ about and
see wot dese lads know.” Hazug
found what he was looking for in an adjacent chamber. In here the walls
and several table were lined with crude sketches of the hulk’s passageways
and chambers. All of these were carefully labelled with notes regarding
the likely origin of the vessel making up that part of the hulk. Several
sections were labelled ‘ORK’, while about an equal number were labelled
‘GIT’, though the two most common labels were ‘GORK KNOWS’ or ‘MORK KNOWS’
in reference to the two primary deities worshipped by
orks. More
importantly there was an ork mekboy in Death Skulls colours here, busy
scribbling on one of the maps and Hazug walked towards
him. “Wotcha
want?” the mekboy asked as he heard Hazug’s approach and he stood up to
his full height. Unsurprisingly this was large enough to be considered the
mechaniak equivalent of a nob, a big mek as they were known, but was still
somewhat shorter than Hazug. “Let’s
start with ya name.” Hazug said. “Fullgrup.”
The mekboy told him, “Now who is ya and wot does ya
want?” “Da
name’s Hazug and I wants to know about all dis.” Hazug replied, waving a
hand at the various maps and sketches. Fullgrup
frowned. “If
da boss sent ya den ya can tell ‘im dat we’ll be ready to start loadin’
soon. But we aint got da engines workin’ yet.” He said. “Good.”
Hazug said, “But ‘ow does ya know dat all ya lads is tellin’ da truth
about wot dey is findin’ up ‘ere?” “Because
da only way for anythin’ to move off dis ‘ulk is through dis landin’ bay
and I sees everythin’ wot comes through it.” “Yeah,”
Hazug responded, “but like ya just said, we’ll be loadin’ all da lads onto
dis ‘ulk before long and ‘eadin’ off somewhere else. So wot if some lads
decided dat dey could just ‘ide some loot somewhere and take it with ‘em
when we leaves. ‘Ow would ya know?” Fullgrup
drew in breath to reply before realising that this was something he had
overlooked. He had assumed that any ork who found something he did not
want the others to know about would try to sneak it past him so he could
sell it on the planet below. That one or more could be establishing secret
treasure troves right under his nose was something he had done nothing to
try and counter and if any had then Kazkal Kromag may choose to hold him
responsible. Fullgrup’s
hand moved to his throat and rubbed it while he considered what he ought
to do. Meanwhile
Hazug looked back at a set of maps on a nearby
bulkhead. “So
‘ow many of dese places ‘ave ya been yaself?” he asked as he looked at
them. “Loads.”
Fullgrup answered, “Every time da lads opens up a new bit of da ship for
us I goes and takes a look so dat I can decide who gets to search it
proper like.” “And
wot about dese bits of da map ya’ve crossed out?” Hazug asked, pointing to
several sections where places had simply been coloured in solid rather
than any attempt made at either mapping passageways or labelling
machinery. “Dem
is places dat aint safe.”
Fullgrup explained, “Dare’s places wot aint got no air in ‘em and
we can’t find da leaks to seal. So we keeps ‘em sealed up and moves on to
da next bit of da ‘ulk.” “And
ya checks all of dese yaself does ya?” “Of
course not. I leaves me lads to ‘andle dat crap. After all if dey don’t
try ‘ard enough to fix any leaks den dey aint getting’ any loot from da
places dat is-“ and then Fullgrup suddenly stopped, realising what he was
saying, “Ah.” He added and he frowned and pulled a large wrench from his
belt, “I bleedin’ kill ‘em.” He said, “If any of ‘em is tellin’ me dat
somewhere aint safe just so dat ‘e can ‘ide loot in it I’ll split ‘is
space suit wide open and sent ‘im outside for a
walk.” Hazug
grinned. “I’m
gonna need to borrow dese maps.” He said and he indicated every map that
had a shaded section on it. “Leave
‘em.” Fullgrup said, “I’ll take ya dare meself. I knows where every one of
‘em is.” “Best
give me da maps instead.” Hazug said, “I’ll be takin’ me warband with me.
Kromag’s orders.” “Wotcha
mean?” Fullgrup asked, but Hazug just strode to the door leading back to
the docking bay and looked in the direction of his warband. Most of them
were unpacking and loading the weapons they had brought with them though
the madboys were attempted to replicate the weightlessness of the shuttle
flight by leaping up into the air and flapping their arms with little
success. The only one to remain off the floor had managed it by climbing
up onto the shoulders of another for his attempt and was still being
supported in that way. “Open
‘em up!” Hazug bellowed and Two Heads both nodded. Then he and Gorgoga
each ran to one of the large crates than had just been unloaded from the
shuttle. Gorgoga activated his power claw while Two Heads drew his
hyperphase sword and then both of them swung their weapons at the corner
of one of the crates, smashing open a hole big enough for the contents to
be revealed. “Hazug!”
she yelled, “Tell Mayleth to stop waving that finger she bit off the
gretchin about. It’s disgusting.” And behind her Mayleth came strolling
out and tossed away the severed digit. Then as the orks in the docking bay
turned in disbelief to see what the gretchin was shouting about Inquisitor
Rell’s stormtroopers emerged in formation and formed a line in front of
the crate to protect the inquisitor himself as he exited
it. But
it was the second crate that drew more attention from the orks as the
gigantic armoured forms of Captain Crassus and his marines appeared from
within it. “Wot
da bleedin’ ‘ell is goin’ on!” Fullgrup demanded as he saw the human
troops aboard the hulk and around the docking bay orks drew weapons while
the various dreadnoughts turned menacingly towards
them. “Tell
‘em to stand down Fullgrup.” Hazug said sternly, pulling his warscythe
free of where he had slung it over his shoulders and held it vertically
with his free hand. In
response Fullgrup whirled around to face Hazug, scowling at him
furiously. “No
gits aboard da ‘ulk!” he snapped, “Ya knows dat. Da boss don’t allow
it.” “Ya
got more dan just humans aboard it.” Hazug replied, holding up the maps he
had taken from the other compartment, “I reckon ya got an army of
genestealers ‘idin’ aboard dis thing and we is ‘ere to deal with
‘em.” “Aliens
bred just for sneakin’ about and takin’ over.” Hazug answered, “Now I
suggests ya let us go find ‘em and if ya got a problem with it ya can take
it up with Kazkal Kromag ‘imself. ‘e’s da one wot asked me to get rid of
‘em all.” Still
scowling Fullgrup glanced towards the ork workers in the docking
bay. “Put
ya shootas down and get back to work.” He ordered. Then he just stared at
Hazug who nodded. “Right
den!” he called out to his warband, “I gots da maps we needs, so lets get
movin’.” Fullgrup
remained where he was as he watched the warband leave the docking bay and
did not even look around as another of the Death Skulls in the bay
approached him. “I
aint sure.” Fullgrup replied, “But ya better go find Mek Mogget. Tell ‘im
I needs ‘is ‘elp to get da televisualisatron workin’. I needs to talk to
da warboss right now.”
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