Waaargh! Hazug!

Chapta 4

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 Waaargh! Hazug!

Prologue

Chapta 1

Chapta 2

Chapta 3

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


Star Wars Fiction

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Warhammer 40k Intro

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Two Heads had left a hatch open and the orks ran directly towards it, pulling themselves up into the battlewagon. Two Heads was the last of them to climb through the hatch and when he was inside he turned around and fired his rifle out through the door, emptying the magazine in the direction of the warband chasing after them. When the weapon was empty he stepped back and Hazug pulled the hatch closed.

“Get us outta ‘ere.” He said and both of Two Heads nodded before darting to the driver’s seat and taking his place.

The battlewagon’s engine roared as Two Heads revved it and then the vehicle lurched backwards when he put it into reverse gear. Unfortunately the rear visibility from the drivers seat was almost none existent and Two Heads promptly backed it into a large tree, causing the battlewagon to lurch again as it came to a sudden unexpected halt. This was followed by a grinding sound as Two Heads tried to move the battlewagon forwards again, but the sound indicated that there was damage that was preventing it from moving.

“Wotcha playin’ at?” Drazzok bellowed as he picked himself and his staff up from the floor.
”Well I’d like to see ya do any better.” One of Two Heads replied while the other just glared at him.

“We aint got time for dis.” Hazug said, “We needs to get on da guns.”

“D’ya know ‘ow to use ‘em?” Two Heads asked Drazzok and now the weirdboy scowled back at him.

“Of cause I bleedin’ well do. I was shootin’ big shootas before ya even crawled outta wotever messed up pod ya grew ya two-headed self in.” he responded.
”No time remember.” Hazug said as he opened the hatch that led to one of the automatic weapon mounts, “Drazzok, get on da other big shootas while Two Heads takes da kannon.”
”Wot about Ratish master?” Ratish asked.

“Go ‘elp Two Heads.” Hazug told him, “’E’ll need someone to pass ‘im shells.”

Drazzok and Hazug both climbed up and took hold of the handles for the two twin mounted guns, turning them towards the warband still charging in their direction through the forest. Meanwhile behind them Two Heads had taken up a position in the main turret that featured a single high calibre cannon.

“Pass us a shell runt.” He said, holding out a hand towards Ratish.

“Ratish get shell.” Ratish replied and he dashed to the rack of ammunition for the cannon and grabbed hold on a round at random. Then he carried it back to Two Heads and passed it up to him.

“Bah!” the head that was looking down at Ratish while the other lined up the cannon’s sight on their enemy, “Dat aint wot I needs. I need an explosive round not armour smashin’.”

“Ratish get it.” Ratish replied and he went to fetch the correct type of round.

Hazug fired a short burst from his guns, the powerful rounds tearing through the undergrowth and striking an ork as he charged straight towards the battlewagon. Then Drazzok opened fire as well, but unlike the disciplined fire of Hazug the weirdboy was more indiscriminate and he sprayed bullets over a wide area. All the time he fired he let out a wicked cackle. Hazug was about to caution Drazzok to try and conserve some of his ammunition when there was a sudden loud ‘boom!’ as Two Heads fired the battlewagon’s main gun.

Hazug flinched as the shell exploded amongst the trees and there were cries of pain from the greenskins now moving to surround the disabled battlewagon. But Hazug thought he heard another sound at the same time, a screech that was unlike anything he had ever heard any greenskin or squig produce.

“Shoot da closest!” he snapped as he spotted a small group that had worked its way around the side of the battlewagon and was moving closer. If they got much further then Hazug knew that they would be below the level to which his guns could be depressed. Then he swung his weapon mount around and directed a sustained burst of fire into the group.
”Who is dis lot?” Drazzok asked over the noise of his guns, “Dey act’s like git lovin’ Blood Axes, but dey aint dressed like ‘em.”

Hazug realised that the weirdboy was right. The attacking greenskins all moved from cover to cover, doing their best to keep out of the line of fire rather than simply charging headlong at the battlewagon and using their numbers to overwhelm it.

All of a sudden a cloaked figure leapt up out of the undergrowth in front of the battlewagon and scrabbled up onto its roof in front of Drazzok and Hazug’s positions. From beneath the hood of its cloak Hazug caught a glimpse of a misshapen head and large fang like teeth. Rather than turn his guns to face this threat Hazug instead reached for his pistol and drew it. Pointing the handgun in vaguely the right direction he fired instinctively and the bullet struck the figure in the leg, causing it to cry out and topple back to the ground where it lay still. Hazug was about to lean over the side of the battlewagon and fire his pistol again to make sure that the figure was dead when he heard the ‘clump’ of someone starting to climb up the back of the battlewagon.

“Down!” he yelled before he slid back inside the battlewagon and pulled the hatch closed above him. Turning saw Drazzok also lowering himself back into the vehicle and he helped pull the weirdboy inside before pulled his hatch close as well.

“Wotcha doin’?” Drazzok demanded, but before Hazug could answer there was the sound of hammering at the hatches above them.

Still sat in the main turret Two Heads had been about to load another high explosive shell into the cannon when he saw orks and hooded figures start to climb on top of his battlewagon and he snarled.

“Gimme an armour smashin’ round.” He said, dropping the explosive round to the floor. When Ratish then handed him a solid armour piercing round instead, Two Heads loaded the cannon and swung the turret so that it pointed to one of the lighter automatic weapon mounts, ”Kop dis!” one of him yelled while the other just laughed as he pulled the firing lever and sent the fist-sized solid round through the torso of the ork trying to break through one of the hatches. The force of the impact alone was enough to tear the ork apart and blood and fragments of flesh were splattered across the other attackers on top of the battlewagon.

Hazug drew his pistol again and fired it through one of the slits provided for just that purpose, but if he hit anyone they gave no indication.

“Dare’s too many.” He exclaimed as he reloaded his weapon hurriedly.

“Well wot about Drazzok?” one of Two Heads asked and then the other added, “Yeah. Can’t ‘e just zap ‘em all.”

“’Ow?” Drazzok snapped back at him, “Dare aint enough of us for me to get enough power to cook a squig from.”

Hazug frowned.
”Wot about dat lot outside?” he asked, “Can’t ya channel it from dem an’ all?” and now Drazzok frowned.

“Dat’s odd.” He said.
”Wot is?” Hazug asked as the banging on the outside of the battlewagon continued.

“Well dey aint givin’ off any power.” Drazzok replied, “Dat must be ‘ow I never noticed ‘em creepin’ up on us in da first place.”
”Master. Remember da island?” Ratish asked. Just over a year previously Hazug had been ordered by Kazkal Kromag to take a warband to investigate why an ork outpost on a remote island had stopped sending the fuel it was supposed to. When the warband had arrived they had discovered that the island was inhabited by aliens capable of taking over the minds of orks and controlling their actions. A side effect of this was that their link to the gestalt psychic field was disrupted.

“Dis lot still sounds like orks.” Hazug commented as he heard roars and shouts from outside, “Da ones on da island was quiet.”

“Well wotever’s goin’ on we needs a way of getting’ ‘em of me wagon.” Two Heads said as he climbed down from the turret. As he stood on the floor an arm suddenly reached in through a vision slit and tried to grab his shoulder. Without even looking Two Heads took hold of it and twisted until there was a tearing sound and a scream as he ripped it off at it’s owner’s shoulder, “And quick.” He added as he dropped the arm to the floor.

Hazug looked around the interior of the battlewagon, hoping to see something they could use to drive off their attackers before they broke in. But although there were several tools that could be wielded as weapons there was nothing that could do the job required. The most powerful weapons available either required them to open the hatches in the case of the belt fed automatic weapons or were intended for use at longer ranges in the case of the cannon. But all he could think of was how he wished that either he or Two Heads had thought to bring along some grenades.

All of a sudden Hazug’s head turned back towards the rack filled with shells for the battlewagon’s turret mounted main gun and he grinned.

“We use dem.” He said.

Two Heads both frowned.

“Wotcha on about?” one asked before the other added, “We’ll never be able to get ‘em all to stand still long enough to ‘it ‘em.”

“We don’t need to.” Hazug replied, “We aint gonna use da kannon. Just da shells. Da explosive ones.”
”’Ow master?” Ratish asked.

“I gets it.” One of Two Heads said, nodding while the other frowned, “Gets wot?” the second head asked.

“We just use da shells like big stikk bomms.” Drazzok said, “Pull da shell out da case, light da fuse and stuff it outside with dem.” And he pointed to one of the vision slits.

“C’mon Two Heads. Give us an ‘and getting’ da shell outta da case of dis one.” Hazug said as he bent down to pick up the shell that Two Heads had dropped to the floor. Hazug gripped the shell casing while Two Heads too hold of the projectile itself, “Careful now.” Hazug said, “We don’t need da powda spillin’ all over da floor.” And both of Two Heads nodded before he twisted the shell in his hands. There was a sudden ‘Pop!’ as the shell came free and Hazug lifted the case to prevent the highly flammable propellant from pouring out.

“’Ere, put dis somewhere safe.” He told Ratish and the gretchin nodded as he took it.

“Yes master, Ratish keepin’ it safe for ya.”

Meanwhile Two Heads carefully unscrewed the fuse assembly from the nose of the shell. Normally this would be initiated by the sudden acceleration when the shell was fired and would then trigger when it stopped moving again as it struck something solid.

“So ‘ow we gonna trigger it?” one of him asked, looking at Hazug while the other focused on removing the fuse.

Hazug frowned. Improvising explosive devices wasn’t really his speciality.

“We could do with Batrug.” He muttered in reference to the ork mechaniac he frequently consulted for technical advice and services.

“Batrug?” Drazzok muttered when he overheard this, “Wotcha want dat wazzok for?”

“To tell us ‘ow to make dis shell blow up.” Two Heads replied.

“’Ow difficult can dat be?” Drazzok asked, “Aint it designed to go ‘boom’?”

“Yeah, but we needs to change it from goin’ off when it ‘its somethin’ to goin’ off when we stuffs it outside.” Two Heads told him, “Dat aint gonna be enough of an ‘it to make it go off.”

“Wait!” Hazug snapped, “Gimme dat fuse.” And he caught the fuse assembly as Two Heads tossed it to him. The fuse contained the impact sensor, the detonator and a small battery to provide the spark needed to trigger it. In normal operation the fuse lay between the detonator and battery, completing the circuit upon impact, but right now Hazug had no need of it and so he ripped out the wires leading to the battery and detonator, taking care to keep the ends apart, “Now I needs some more wire.” He said and he looked around.

“Up ‘ere.” Two Heads replied, pointing to the small electric light set into the roof of the battlewagon, “Dare’s wires running to da battery.” The other one added.

“Dat’s great.” Hazug said, “I needs two bits of it.” And Two Heads began to pull the wire from the ceiling, causing the light to go out instantly.

Fortunately there was still enough light for Hazug to work with as he twisted lengths of wire to the wires that had previously connected the fuse to the detonator and battery. As he did this more hands reached in and waved about close to Drazzok.

“Geddout of it!” he yelled, beating them with his staff and biting off a finger that he immediately spat out onto the floor.

“Goddit!” Hazug snapped and keeping the two exposed ends of the wire apart he handed the fuse assembly back to Two Heads, “Stick it back on and den shove it outside.” He said.

Two Heads did as he was told, replacing the fuse assembly in the shell and then turning around to push the shell between the various arms trying to grab hold of him and out through the nearest vision slit.

There was a soft ‘thud’ as the shell hit the ground beside the battlewagon.

“Get back.” Hazug said and then he touched the ends of the wires together.

Bypassing the fuse entirely, the wires shorted the battery across the detonator and there was a sudden explosion as the shell detonated. The explosive lacked the power to do anything more to the battlewagon than shake it and its occupants about but its effects on their attackers was devastating. The blast itself sent orks flying away from its centre, while fragments of the shell and wood from nearby trees tore through their flesh and the injured cried out in pain.

Inside the battlewagon Hazug pulled on the wires to bring them back inside. Though shortened where the explosion had cut though them they were still long enough for a second shell.

“Get another shell!” he yelled, but there was no need. Outside the attacking orks had had enough and out of an unusual sense of self-preservation they began to withdraw into the forest.

“Dey’s goin’!” one of Two Heads yelled as he peered out of a vision slit and he scooped up his rifle and fired at the fleeing orks. Then he lowered his weapon and turned to face the other occupants of the battlewagon, “Well I suppose we better go outside and check ‘ow bad da damage is.” He said.

 

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The Warhammer 40,000 universe is the intellectual property of Games Workshop Ltd. The fiction presented here is a derived work. It is completely unofficial and Games Workshop Ltd has not endorsed any of it.

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