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Da Isle Of Doom Chapta 21 | |
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Chapta 21 |
Grath was on hand to meet the raiding party when the warcopters bearing them landed. “Well ya did it.” He said as he walked up and slapped Hazug on the shoulder, “Ya nailed dat supa-kannon and dey legged it.” “Yeah, well I
don’t reckon dat it was just us blowin’ up da kannon wot did it.” Hazug
replied and a puzzled frown appeared on Grath’s face. “We nailed another of dem floatin’ aliens.” Nagrippa announced, “Me lad Grizzlan filled it full of ‘oles and it popped.” “Thuggrim got another one an’ all.” Hazug added. “So ya reckon dat if we shoots a couple of ‘em den dey’ll just pack up and leave?” Grath asked and Hazug turned to Mayleth. “Well?” he asked, “Ya is da one dat knows most about ‘em.” “I know only a little my master.” Mayleth replied, “But from what I have heard they are cautious when it comes to their own survival. They use their slave armies to make war on their behalf.” “And if we kills one of dare mobs den dey just take over another mob.” Grath said, snarling. “Well dey didn’t take over any of us.” Salia pointed out. “Da mind of da great Drazzok was too powerful for ‘em.” Thuggrim proclaimed loudly, “They witnessed the destruction he wrought on their vehicle and fled the field of battle in terror.” “Aye, dat’s right.” Drazzok added with a grin, happy to take credit for something regardless of whether he was responsible. Hazug threw another glance at Mayleth. “The pilots of the aircraft and the occupants of the armoured vehicles were far away my master and that distance would have made establishing control more difficult.” “What about us?” Sophie asked. “Our group represented members of several different species mon keigh.” Mayleth responded, “Perhaps that had some effect. From what I have heard enslavers tend to try and take control of groups of like-minded beings instead of individuals, exploiting the common bond that exists between them to enslave them as a group rather than one at a time. Though I cannot say why the beasts following the shaman were not affected.” “I reckon I can.” Hazug said and he around looked at the madboys, several of whom were at that moment picking one another’s noses, “Does dey look like dey is like-minded?” The orks and gretchin from the airfield arrived just after first light the next morning. Lacking vehicles they had travelled in the most direct route possible, coming through the jungle rather than along the main trails and as such they had avoided contact with the enslavers’ vehicles as they withdrew. The orks were jeered as they arrived and a stern looking Grath stood by the gate, flexing the claws of his bionic arm as he glared at them. “I’ll be ’avin’ ya all for wot ya did.” He said to them, directing his comments specifically towards the nobs. The gretchin on the other hand were simply ordered to report to Mek Nuzzug. The mekboy was hard at work putting together the largest artillery piece he could from the vast array of parts available to him at the refinery. With no liquid fungus being pumped in from the drilling rigs he had not only the lengths of spare pipe to use but also all of the refinery’s processing machinery as well and Nuzzug was thus convinced that this gun would be his greatest creation ever. “I reckon ya should ‘ave some lads dig a trench outside da walls.” Hazug said to the warboss as he approached him from behind and Grath turned away from the line of orks trudging through the gates. “Da walls is better dan any trench.” Grath replied. “Ya fills da trench with some of dat fuel ya got stockpiled.” Hazug replied, “Den ya sets fire to it when dem lads wot da enslavers is controllin’ try and rush da walls.” “Ya reckon dey’ll do dat den?” Grath asked. “Wot else can dey try?” Hazug replied, “Dey aint got no more big guns and I don’t see ‘em bein’ able to try and sneak a few lads in ‘ere while its dark. Nah, all dey got is numbers and dat means a proper waaargh charge.” Grath
smiled. “I is. I’ll take Two Heads, Gorgoga and Druken’s mobs. Plus Batrug and ‘is burnaboys, Drazzok and Thuggrim’s madboys.” “Dat’s a lot of da lads we got left.” Grath said. “I know, but I needs a force dat can take on a fort wot may ‘ave more dan an ‘undred lads inside it.” “Three ‘undred more like.” Grath corrected him, “And even with dis lot ‘ere ya’ll only be leavin’ me with about eighty.” “Well da walls and a pit full of fire should keep ‘em out long enough for ya to even up da numbers.” Hazug said, “Especially if Nuzzug can get da kannon of ‘is workin’.” “Still don’t explain wot ya is gonna do facing ten to one odds.” Hazug smiled. “I never said I was gonna fight ‘em all at da same time.” He said. Four mobs of orks plus a handful of oddboys was not much of an assault force Hazug knew, but he also knew that simply hurling large numbers of troops at an objective would not bring victory. Well, not always anyway and he had a hunch that this was one of those times. The influence that the alien enslavers could exert presented him with too much of an unknown factor and he needed to find a way around it. “So wot’s da plan den?” one of Two Heads asked. The orks that Hazug was planning to take with him were all gathered around the Evil Suns two vehicles, with Drazzok and the mekboys doing their best to act like each other were not there. “We needs to deal with da enslavers.” Hazug announced, “If we can do dat den da lads under dare control will snap out of it.” This was greeted with snorts from several of the orks. “Dat’s bleedin’ obvious.” Drazzok commented, “I bet even dem grot brained meks could ‘ave told ya dat.” “Well I picked all of ya to come with us on dis mission cause I reckons dat between us we can get at da enslavers without ‘em ‘avin’ a chance to take over our brains.” “Dose of us wot got brains.” Mek Batrug muttered, glancing at the madboys clustered around Drazzok. Hazug ignored this and went on. “Two Heads’ wagons can deal with any wagons dey got left and den shoot at any lads from a distance while we figures out wot we is up against.” He explained, “While Gorgoga’s mob can take on any mobs wot get close without necessarily ‘avin’ to kill ‘em.” At this point there were groans from the Goffs. “Me lads aint likin’ dat.” Gorgoga himself said, “We wants to kick some ‘eads in properly.” “Yeah, well if ya does dat den all dat’ll ‘appen is dat da enslaver controllin’ whoever ya kills’ll try and do da same to ya instead.” Hauzg pointed out, “Now Druken and ‘is stormboys needs to ‘ang back a bit. I wants ‘em to watch out for any signs of da enslavers demselves. Dey likes to keep out of sight, but dey’ll be ‘angin’ about for any scrap. If ya reckons ya sees any of ‘em den I wants to go and get stuck in. use ya rokkit packs to get over any lads wot is in ya way, don’t waste ya time on ‘em. Dat should break dare control over any lads ay is facin’. Now dey may decide to keep on fightin’, so if dat ‘appens den ya is welcome to finish ‘em off. We can’t be wastin’ any time convincin’ ‘em to stop fightin’ and leave.” “Leave?” Druken commented, “Why make ‘em leave.” “Because I don’t want dare to be loads of lads ‘angin’ about for da enslavers to take control of again.” Hazug replied, “Dey can do more good comin’ back ‘ere and ‘elpin’ to protect dis place just in case we is all killed.” “I notice ya
aint said wot ya I gonna be doin’.” Gorgoga said to Hazug, “Or any of dat
lot, or dem.” And he pointed out Mek Batrug’s burner boys and the
madboys. Between two trucks plus Two Heads’ armoured vehicles there was just enough room to transport all of Hazug’s attack force, though Druken’s stormboys had to make do with riding on the roof of the armoured vehicles. Drazzok and the madboys squeezed into Hazug’s truck with the Blood Axe and his servants while Mek Batrug and the two remaining burner boys rode with Two Heads’ inside his battlewagon. The relatively small force followed the trail hacked through the jungle almost as far as the mysterious human structure at the base of the volcano until Hazug, whose truck was the lead vehicle in the convoy, pulled over to the side of the trail and parked it in the undergrowth. “Wait, wot we stoppin’ for?” Drazzok asked as Hazug climbed down from the truck and flagged down Two Heads’ battlewagon. “Wot is it?” Two Heads asked, leaning out of the heavy vehicle through a side hatch, “Why’ve ya stopped?” “Dat’s wot I asked.” Drazzok said as he too disembarked from the truck and as soon as his feet touched the ground the madboys saw it as a signal that they too should disembark and they scrabbled to be the first off, pushing one another out of the way and climbing over each other to try and be the first. This resulted in several simply falling off the back of the truck and landing in a heap that Thuggrim promptly strode down, oblivious to the grunts of discomfort as he trod on them. “Dis is where
we walks from.” Hazug announced loudly enough that everyone could hear
him, “Just Two Heads’ lot should stay in dare vehicles. Everyone else get
behind ‘em while I goes in front.” “There wasn’t enough room in the truck anyway.” Salia commented. “Dare would
‘ave been if we ‘ad left all da useless gits behind.” Ratish hissed as he
led Cuddles from the truck. In the driver’s seat of the battlewagon Gorrid frowned. As an Evil Sun he wanted to go fast and crawling along at walking pace behind an ork on foot went against his nature. However, he was familiar enough with Hazug’s way of doing things that he was willing to go along with it without voicing his objection. “Ratish shouldn’t be back ‘ere with gits and a pansy.” Ratish muttered as he joined those following the two armoured vehicles on foot, “Ratish should be up dare with master.” “Perhaps you should remember your place worthless creature.” Mayleth replied upon hearing this, “We all go where our master says we should.” “That’s right,” Sophie added with a smile, “and right now he wants you back here with us.” Ratish just frowned. Then both the looted rhino and battlewagon came to a halt and a whisper went through the ork ranks. “Hazug’s seen somethin’!” Two Heads climbed out of the battlewagon and looked to the orks following on foot. “Wait dare.” He hissed, “I is gonna see wot Hazug’s spotted.” And then he turned and rushed forwards. Hazug was crouched in the middle of the trail with his rifle pointed into the jungle. He had Cuddles’ leash wrapped around his wrist and the animal was tugging at it, apparently eager to be let loose. “Wot d’ya se?” one of Two Heads asked, looking at Hazug while the other looked into the jungle in the same direction as Hazug was staring. “Nought.” Hazug replied quietly, “But somethin’s got Cuddles spooked and I wants to know wot.” “Ya reckon its one of dem enslavers?” “Dunno. We aint seen ‘em get out in front of dare lads like dis before. Dare could be one ‘idin’ out dare and keepin’ watch I suppose, but why aint we ‘ad a bunch of lads come chargin’ at us if dare is one?” “Well ‘ows about we send some lads in dare to take a look?” one of Two Heads suggested and the other smiled and nodded, “I’ll go.” This one added. “Nah.” Hazug replied, “If we takes out any lads wot is with it den it’ll just ‘ave a go at takin’ over some of ours.” “Well we can’t send in Druken’s lads.” Two Heads pointed out,” Dey’ll just crash into all dem trees.” Then a smile appeared on Hazug’s face. “Dat’s it.” He
said. “Nah. Why dare’d be an enslaver ‘idin’ out ‘ere with no lads to protect it. Its cause its waitin’ for us to come along so it can take over one of our mobs and use ‘em against us before we reach da fort.” Then he stood up and began to walk back towards the rest of the assault force, “Come on,” he said to Two Heads.” “Where ya goin’?” Two Heads replied. “’Untin’ an enslaver and I needs Mayleth, Ratish and Thuggrim to ‘elp.” Halting when he reached his servants, Hazug beckoned Thuggrim to come closer. “Come ‘ere,” he said, “I got a job for ya lads.” “Wot?” Thuggrim asked as he walked up to Hazug. “I reckon we is bein’ watched by one of dem enslavers.” Hazug explained and he pointed, “I reckon dat it’s over dare somewhere waitin’ for us to go past so it can try and take over our lads. So I is goin’ into da jungle to flush it out before it gets da chance. Now dis calls for quiet so I’ll just be takin’ Mayleth and Ratish with me.” “But we can be quiet as well.” Sophie protested when she realised that she and Salia were going to be left behind. “I needs ‘unters for dis.” Hazug replied and he passed Cuddles’ leash to Sophie, “’Ere, cop ‘old of Cuddles. I reckon ‘e’ll make too much noise for dis.” “So wot is me lads gonna be doin’ while ya is off ‘unit’ dis enslaver?” Thuggrim asked. “I just wants ya to set up along da edge of da trail ‘ere.” Hazug replied, waving his arm alongside the stationary battlewagon and rhino, “If any of ya sees da enslaver den ya needs to shoot it.” And then he turned to Two Heads and added, “Ya should keep some of ya lads ready on ya big shoots an’ all.” He told the Evil Sun, “’Opefully dey’ll be able to shoot da enslaver before it gets close enough to ‘ave a go at takin’ ‘em over.” “Gotcha.” Two Heads said and both of him smiled briefly before he walked back towards the open hatchway of the battlewagon, “Right lads! Lets get dem big shootas pointin’ dat way. Horfug, shift out da way cause I is gonna take over dat one.” “Right den,” Hazug said, looking at Mayleth and Ratish, “if ya is both ready den let’s get movin’. Remember, keep quiet and keep an eye out.” “We should remember to check the trees.” Mayleth said, “An enslaver’s ability to levitate could allow it to conceal itself above us.” “Goddit.” Hazug said, “Ratish, I wants ya to make sure dares nothin’ above us.” “Yes master, Ratish do dat.” “Good, den let’s go.” Hazug said and placing his rifle stock against his shoulder he turned and walked straight into the jungle. Mayleth was able to move much quicker than Hazug and yet still made almost no noise and she soon overtook him, moving some distance ahead before pausing to wait for him to catch up. All the time she studied her surrounding carefully, looking out for anything that would point towards the enslaver being present. Ratish on the other hand simply travelled beside Hazug, his gaze focused upwards. Gretchin were naturally stealthy, it helped them to keep out of the way of the larger orks who may just decide that the gretchin would make a viable and cheap snack and so to Ratish sneaking through the undergrowth without making much noise was an easy task. Hazug noticed that the jungle was much quieter than he had become used to since arriving on the island, though how much of that could be put down to the presence of his own force he could not tell. But still he considered this further proof that they were not alone here. A sudden ‘snap’ caught his attention and Hazug spun to face its source only to see Mayleth standing frozen to the spot, waving a hand at him. Apparently her cautious movement had not bee as flawless as it first looked and she had stepped on a stick. “Worthless pansy.” Ratish hissed, “We should use it as bait.” Hazug looked round, intending to slap Ratish for making noise, but as he turned he spotted a low hanging branch moving in a manner inconsistent with the weak prevailing wind. “Dare!” he snapped and he fired a burst of rifle fire towards it. The bullets tore through the relatively thin branch and it dropped to the ground with a ‘crash’. However, there was no sign of an enslaver at all. At least until the branches higher up the same tree began to move as the alien gave itself away as it sought to get out of Hazug’s line of fire. There was the distinctive sound of splinter pistol fire as Mayleth opened fire on the move, heading directly for the enslaver in leaps and bounds that took her over the intervening undergrowth. Hazug fired again and this time some of the burst just clipped the bulbous body of the enslaver and a lurid pink liquid squirted out of the wound. For a moment both Hazug and Ratish were disorientated by the psychic scream the alien let out, but Mayleth kept on moving. As she neared the enslaver she dropped her pistol to the floor and drew one of her knives. Making use of her free hand she pulled herself up the trunk of the tree and slashed at the enslaver from below, cutting through one of its barbed tentacles. The enslaver lashed out with another whip like tentacle that caught Mayleth across the face and sent her tumbling from the tree trunk. Hazug sought to shoot the alien again, but his rifle just clicked empty. He was about to reload when he saw the enslaver descending towards where Mayleth had landed and he knew immediately that he would not have enough to reload before it reached the eldar woman. “Ratish!” Hazug snapped and he reached out and took hold of his servant, “Go get it!” and with all his strength he hurled the startled gretchin at the enslaver. “Aaargh!” Ratish cried out in panic as he flew through the air in a totally uncontrolled fashion, waving his arms about at random. Hazug’s throw was accurate though and Ratish struck the side of the enslaver before Mayleth came within reach. The spongy body of the alien softened the impact for Ratish and he dug his nails into its flesh to keep hold. The enslaver let out another psychic scream as it tried to shake Ratish off, but the gretchin’s grip was too good. With his pistol dropped during his unexpected flight and his dagger tucked into his belt where he could not reach it without letting go of his grasp on the alien Ratish realised that he had only one weapon left at his disposal and he opened his mouth wide before sinking his teeth into the flesh of the enslaver. There was another psychic scream and the enslaver shook violently, finally breaking Ratish’s grip. But the gretchin did not let go with his teeth and so as he was thrown clear he ripped a large chunk of flesh from the enslaver’s body. The alien let out yet another psychic scream and instinctively it retreated away from Hazug and his servants. But this brought it closer to the trail and it became visible to the orks waiting there. “Dare it is!” one of Two Heads shouted before the other one added, “Let rip!” The heavy automatic guns on the two vehicles cut through the jungle vegetation as if it was not there and pulverised the enslaver as it tried to escape. The firing ceased when the scream the enslaver sent directly into the minds of all those close by ceased and its body dropped out of sight. Hazug ejected the spent magazine from his rifle and was just inserting another when he spotted a movement and he realised that he had been wrong about there being a single unsupported enslaver watching the trail leading to the old human fort. There were two. This second alien was moving in a path that would rapidly bring it around behind the rest of the attack force, meaning it would be able to try and take over the minds of all the orks waiting behind the rhino. He slammed a fresh magazine into his rifle and took aim, switching the fire selector to the ‘turbo-dakka’ mode and pulled the trigger. The weapon roared as it rapidly fired the entire contents of the magazine. But although a handful of the rounds fired punched their way into the enslaver’s body this particular alien did not even emit one of its species’ typical cries. Instead it just turned towards Hazug and after a moment’s pause it charged towards him. Seeing the alien bearing down on him Hazug was tempted to drop his rifle and instead draw his pistol. However, given how little effect his rifle fire had just had on the alien he doubted that the stopping power of the smaller weapon would even slow it down. But he still had another ranged weapon at his disposal and his hand reached for the secondary trigger beneath the rifle’s main barrel. There was a sudden flash and a ‘whoosh’ as the rocket was fired. Though intended for attacking armoured targets such as tanks or dreadnought walkers Hazug believed that the powerful explosive warhead would be capable of killing an enslaver. Sure enough there was a scream in his mind as the projectile struck the enslaver and buried itself in the alien’s body. A scream that was cut suddenly short when the warhead detonated and Hazug threw himself to the ground to avoid the chunks of enslaver meat that flew in all directions. “Master! Master!” Hazug heard Ratish call out and he looked around to see the gretchin rushing towards him holding the lump of flesh he had bitten from the enslaver up above his head, “Ratish got meat for ya.” “Keep it.” Hazug replied and Ratish smiled before he took a bite and began to chew it. Then stopped and screwed up his face before spitting it out, “Blah! Tastes disgustin’!” he said and he threw the remaining meat away without looking where it landed. “Go find ya
slugga.” Hazug told Ratish, “Den get back to da others. I is gonna pick up
Mayleth.” Hazug ignored the suggestion and rushed to where he had seen Mayleth fall. He found her lay on the ground, her dagger not far away. “Oi Mayleth!” he shouted and the eldar woman groaned. Her eyes flickered open and she looked up at him before speaking. The words from her mouth were the usual long strings of syllables that included lots of ‘l’ and ‘u’ sounds, but unlike normal her words were not then repeated in the ork language by her translation device. Immediately aware of the fault both she and Hazug looked at the device strapped around her neck and she removed it. “Give dat ‘ere.” Hazug said and he reached out and snatched the device from Mayleth who did not understand the instruction. Though he was no expert in technology Hazug could tell that the device was broken, a crack ran the entire length of the casing and as he pushed a finger nail into it there was a ‘snap’ sound and part of the covering fell away, “Come on.” Hazug said to Mayleth and he held out a hand to help her up, “We’ll ‘ave Batrug take a look at it.” |
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