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Da Isle Of Doom Chapta 22 | |
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Chapta 22 |
Batrug looked at the eldar translator while both the burner boys peered over his shoulder at it. “Yep, I thought as much.” Batrug said to himself. “Wot?” Hazug
asked, “Wot’s up with it?” “Even I knows dat.” Hazug said, frowning, “Dat fact dat I couldn’t understand a bleedin’ word Mayleth said gave dat away. Wot I needs to know is whether or not ay can fix it.” Batrug sucked air in through his teeth. “It’ll cost ya.” He said. “’Ow much?” Hazug asked. “Hmmm. Three teeth and I’ll ‘ave it done by tomorrow.” “It needs fixin’ now.” “Five teeth den.” Hazug emitted
a low growl. “Deal.” Batrug replied and as Hazug reached for his money pouch Batrug slammed the device against the side of the battlewagon and handed it back to Hazug, “Dare ya go.” He said, “Job’s a good ‘un.” “Is dat it?” Hazug asked. “Yep.” Batrug replied, “A bit of crud got caught in da gubbins, dat’s all. Dat should ‘ave cleared it nicely. Ya may want to keep it out of da mud until ya can stick dat cover back on though. Now pay up.” Reluctantly Hazug handed over the money and passed the translator back to Mayleth. “Understand me now?” he asked. “Yes my
master.” She replied. “Da git language?” Drazzok snorted, “Wot’s da point in dat? It’s da same as da pansies’ language innit? No proper structure or nought, just an ‘ole load of noise to say ‘ardly anythin’.” “I suggested that in the first place.” Sophie muttered. “Right den lads,” Hazug called out, “we needs to get movin’ again. Now I reckon dat dares a fair chance da rest of da enslaver know we is comin’ now, so everyone be extra careful. Thuggrim, I wants ya lads up front with me, Mayleth and Ratish just in case dey got any surprises waitin’ for us.” Then he looked at Salia and Sophie and added, “Ya better stay back ‘ere and keep an eye on Drazzok until we reach da fort.” He added, “Give us a shout if ‘e senses anythin’.” And he then raised his rifle and set off along the trail once more. The next time Hazug came to a halt was close to the clearing where the fort was located and took out the tau viewing device to study the ground ahead. The optics of the device allowed him to better see along the jungle trail as far as the clearing where he saw the vehicles belonging to the orks under enslaver control parked. “Dare’s more wagons dis time.” He said quietly to Thuggrim, “I reckon dis must be all of ‘em wot attacked us last night.” “So dat means all of da lads is ‘ere den?” Thuggrim asked. “I ‘ope so.” Hazug answered as he continued to study the parked vehicles, “So long as all da lads is ‘ere den it’s a fair bet dat all da enslavers will be an’ all. Dem two back down da trail is da only ones we seen so far without a bunch of lads to do dare fightin’ for ‘em.” “Yeah,”
Thuggrim snorted, “and look ‘ow well dey did without ‘em. Right lads?” and
the other madboys cheered. “Movement my master.” She said, her gaze fixated on one of the ork vehicles, an open topped half-track with high side plates. Hazug lifted the viewer and took a closer look for himself. Sure enough he saw an ork climbing up into the gunner’s seat. He adjusted the zoom of the viewer to give him an image of a wider area that included the entire vehicle. Like this he could tell that there were no thick clouds of fumes flowing from the vehicle’s exhaust, nor was there anyone sat in the driver’s seat. Clearly the orks at the fort were not planning on taking this particular vehicle anywhere. “Dey is usin’ da wagons as bunkers.” Hazug said, “We’ll need to deal with ‘em quickly.” Then he reached out and took hold of Cuddles’ leash from Ratish, “Go get Two Heads and Batrug’s lads.” He told the gretchin. “Right away master.” Ratish ran to
the battlewagon and returned shortly after with Two Heads, Mek Batrug and
the burner boys. “Probably at least one ‘idin’ somewhere.” Hazug said, “But right now I is more worried about da lads with dem big shootas in dem wagons parked out front of da fort. We needs to take ‘em out. Can ya do it form ‘ere?” Two Heads
looked down the trail to where he could just about make out the clearing
and the assorted stationary vehicles there. “Remember,” Hazug said, “don’t get too close to ‘em. If dare are any enslavers ‘idin’ in any of dem other wagons dey may try and take over ya brains.” Mayleth let out a snort, but otherwise said nothing. “Yeah, I knows dis stuff.” Two Heads replied, “Trust me, by da time ya figures out a way to sneak inside dat fort all dem wagons out front’ll ‘ave been scrapped by me lads.” And then he darted back towards his vehicles, going right past the battlewagon to the rhino that carried the heavier gun. “Dis is it den lads.” Hazug announced, careful to keep his voice low enough that it would not carry all the way to the clearing but loud enough that the rest of the attack force could hear him, “Salia, Sophie, get Drazzok up ‘ere cause we is ‘eadin’ out. Da rest of ya get ready to ‘it dat clearin’. Ya knows wot I wants from ya so get to it.” A sudden
booming sound filled the air as the rhino’s crew opened fire. The shell
possessed a crude fuse that required a good solid impact to trigger, so
when it struck the thin jungle canopy overhead it punched through rather
than exploding right above the rhino, sending a shower of leaves and
branches falling to the ground below. There was a whistling as the shell
travelled towards the clearing followed by a flash and a wave of heat as
it went off, the sound of the detonation coming shortly after. Two Heads clambered back into the battlewagon and pulled its hatch shut behind him just as the rhino fired a second shell. “Horfug shift.” He said, tugging on Horfug’s leg as he sat manning one of the battlewagon’s two twin linked automatic weapons and as soon as he had reluctantly vacated his spot two Heads climbed up into the gunner’s seat himself, “Alright Gorrid, let’s roll!” one of him yelled and then he raised a fist into the air and let out a yell, ”Waaargh!” The battlewagon’s engine roared and thick smoke billowed from its exhaust as it accelerated towards the clearing. As soon as Two Heads clearly saw one of the parked vehicles he opened fire, spraying it with bullets without waiting to see if there was anyone inside. “Kragglat! Let rip!” Two Heads shouted and the battlewagon’s main gun boomed as an armour piercing shell was fired into the same vehicle. In response there was the rattle of automatic fire from several of the other parked vehicles and Two Heads turned his weapons to face the closest,” Kop dis!” he yelled and he laughed as he opened fire. Gorrid brought the battlewagon to a halt at the very edge of the clearing, knowing that he had to keep the maximum distance between them and their enemy. Reaching down beside his chair he took hold of his rifle and poked it through his vision slit before opening fire, shooting short bursts at a vehicle before selecting a new target and doing the same to that. “Everyone out!” he yelled as he briefly looked back over his shoulder to where the rest of the mob were sat, “Dare’s enough for us all!” Already on his feet, Horfug opened one of the side hatches and leapt out before diving into the nearby undergrowth and opening fire as more orks followed him. A sudden ‘clang’ heralded the main ramp at the rear of the battlewagon being dropped and the rest of the mob came charging out to take up positions either side of the vehicle. The rhino then pulled up alongside the battlewagon, flattening some of the vegetation beside the trail. It’s main gun remained silent now that the enemy was so close and instead an ork appeared from a hatch to shoot the pintle mounted automatic weapon it also carried. Behind this line of two armoured vehicles with rifle-armed infantry arrayed to each side Gorgoga and Druken brought up their troops, waiting for suitable targets to reveal themselves. A rocket streaked through the air from the direction of the fort itself to land just in front of the rhino, shaking the vehicle and kicking up a massive cloud of dirt but otherwise doing nothing. “Da walls!” Two Heads shouted as he saw the flashes of weapons fire coming from the holes I in the fort’s walls, “Dey is shootin’ form da walls.” And he swung his weapons towards the fort. The other orks operating the automatic weapons mounted on the two armoured vehicles followed Two Heads’ example and turned their weapons on the fort itself. But this was exactly what the defenders had hoped for and without the weight of heavy automatic fire raking the parked vehicles a large mob of orks that had been concealed amongst them came rushing out and towards the Evil Suns’ line. As with every other encounter with orks under the control of enslavers these were eerily quiet, not one of them calling out the traditional ork war cry. “Dis is it lads!” Gorgoga yelled when he saw the charging mob, “Let’s show ‘em wot Goffs can do. Waaargh!” Gorgoga’s mob of heavily armoured orks charged out from between Two Heads’ vehicles and into the advancing orks, raising their thick metal shields in front of them and using them as weapons as the ran headlong into their opponents and knocked them aside. As Two Heads paused to reload his weapon one of him surveyed the clearing and between the remains of two wrecked trucks he saw movement. Not the random bursts of speed he associated with orks but the gentle glide of a creature that did not touch the ground. “Druken!” he called out, “Over dare!” “To da air lads!” Druken yelled and the stormboys ran forwards until they reached the edge of the clearing and then they activated their rocket packs, the backpack mounted engines propelling them into the air sky and over the swirling melee between Gorgoga’s armoured orks and the larger number of orks under enslaver control. Druken saw the enslaver from the air and aimed his descent towards it, the other stormboys following his lead. However, this part of the clearing was crowded with parked vehicles, some intact other now just burning wrecks and not all of the stormboys landed safely. One slammed into the side of a truck and as he dropped to the ground the side panel he had dislodged fell and crushed him while a second landed amongst the burning wreckage of another vehicle and was impaled through his side as he toppled over. Stormboys were used to such losses however and Druken still had a dozen to back him up as he confronted the enslaver face to face. “Get back down ‘ere!” Druken snapped as the enslaver reacted to the sudden appearance of the stormboys by backing away and he reached out and grabbed hold of one of its tentacles, pulling it back towards him. A barbed tentacle lashed out and struck Druken across is face, drawing blood. But the strike only enraged the ork and he retaliated by thrusting his motorised blade forwards into the enslaver’s body and ignoring the psychic scream from the alien he laughed as he was splattered with blood and gore. But despite the apparent severity of the wound the enslaver struck again, striking at Druken with one tentacle while another coiled around his wrist and attempted to pull the weapon from its body. “At ‘im lads, dare’s life in ‘im yet!” Druken shouted and the stormboys rushed forwards, all eager to claim a trophy as the hacked at the enslaver. |
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