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Prologue | |
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Da Raiders From Da Shadows Prologue |
Dugrut Wagonsmasha looked at the alien structure in front of him. According to Warboss Kazkal Kromag it was some construction of the pansy pointy-eared eldar and he wanted it blowing up before the orks of this world found themselves up their necks in pansies running about and not letting anyone hit them properly. With this in mind the warboss had of course come to Dugrut Wagonsmasha, the ork most expert in sticking explosives to things and turning them into large holes in the ground. Even as Dugrut watched a line of gretchin were passing cases of explosives towards the arch-like structure of bone where they were being stacking around its base. “Fasta ya worthless grots!” he yelled. There was nothing wrong with the speed at which the smaller creatures were moving and increased speed may increase the chance of an accidental detonation of one of the charges, but that was a price worth paying for the opportunity to tell the gretchin that they were not doing a good enough job. He looked at his chart. Dugrut had compiled this chart on the basis of his years of experience in demolitions; it clearly laid out both the minimum and recommended quantities of explosives to be used for any particular target. The first entry on the chart was buggies, for which the chart stated the minimum amount of explosives to be used was a finger-sized amount while the recommended amount was ‘Lots’. Dugrut looked down the chart looking for the entry most similar to the webway gate. He was undecided whether the structure should be considered equivalent to an armoured wagon, for which at least two fist-sized charges should be used though the recommended amount was ‘Lots’, or a small fort. That would require at lest a full case of explosives, but ‘Lots’ was recommended. Dugrut decided to think about the issue a different way and he instead looked at the amount of explosives that he had brought with him. He had lots. Dugrut tucked the chart under his arm, satisfied that he had a suitable amount for the task at hand. A strange humming sound from the eldar structure attracted Dugrut’s attention and he looked up to see a globe of light appear floating beneath the arch. The gretchin reacted as they did to everything unexpected and strange. They screamed and ran for somewhere to hide. Dugrut watched as the floating globe of light increased in size and the humming sound got louder. Then he thought he saw something happening to the globe, as if it were changing shape slightly. Then he saw it for certain a bulge formed in the globe as something solid began to push its way out of the passageway between worlds that lay beyond the gateway. “Arm ya selves lads!” Dugrut bellowed and he reached to where he had put down his rocket launcher. The bulge in the globe of light burst open before Dugrut’s eyes as the object made its way through the gateway. In front of the reformed globe there now sat what appeared to be a vehicle similar to one of the smaller riverboats used by gretchin. It had a pointed fore end and decorated sails above its hull, but rather than floating on the water this boat floated in the air. Dugrut could see figures standing on the air boat, as tall as an ork or human but far too thin to be healthy and Dugrut realised that they were pansy eldar. The pansy eldar had come to this word before he could blow up their precious gateway. But at least they had brought him a wagon to blow up as well. “Let rip at ‘em lads!” he bellowed and he aimed his rocket launcher at the eldar vehicle. There was a whoosh as the first rocket left his launcher and sailed harmlessly past the eldar vehicle, detonating against the side of the arch of the webway gate. Dugrut squeezed the trigger of his weapon again and launched his second and final rocket at the eldar. This time his aim was good and the explosive projectile tore through the sails of the craft and detonated above the rear of the vehicle. Shrapnel disintegrated what was left of the sail and decapitated the vehicle’s pilot, sending it crashing into the ground in front of the gateway. But the eldar that had stood on the open deck along each side of the vehicle leapt clear before it crashed and landed safely on the ground beside it. Almost in unison they raised their rifles and began to fire at the orks as they sought to arm themselves. Dugrut saw the flesh of his troops sliced open as tiny razor sharp projectiles cut into them. The holes appeared too small to be able to inflict any serious injury on an ork, but in spite of the resilience of his troops Dugrut saw them fall to the ground in pain. Some of them screamed while others clawed at the seemingly insignificant wounds inflicted by the pansy eldar’s puny weaponry. Dugrut reached for new rockets with which to reload his weapon and teach the eldar a lesson in manners: orks are best and it was rude to think otherwise. But as he reached to his belt where he kept his extra ammunition he felt a stinging sensation on his thigh. He looked down and saw that his trousers had been sliced open by a round from one of the eldar weapons and that his skin was cut open. Rather than reaching for his ammunition Dugrut now reached towards the wound and scratched at it with his thumb and forefinger. He felt something solid in the wound and he tugged it out and held it up to take a good look at it. It was a tiny piece of clear crystal with his blood on its tip. There was something else on it also, some other coloured liquid that was held in the crystal’s core. As he turned the crystal around he saw this other liquid drip out of the bloodstained tip. The sting on his leg now became a burning sensation and Dugrut dropped the crystal to the ground. He then clamped his hand over the wound as the pain increased beyond even an ork’s ability to tolerate. Suddenly his leg gave way and Dugrut fell to the ground, dropping his weapon. The pain in his leg was spreading now, it felt like his entire side was one fire and Dugrut bellowed with agony. His cry was cut short when he began to choke and he coughed violently in an attempt to clear his throat. He caught a glimpse of the ground beneath him and saw that when he coughed he was bringing up blood. The coughing stopped abruptly and Dugrut lay still. He tried to move but found that his arms and legs would not do what his brain told them to, no matter how hard it tried. The sound of footfalls caught his attention but he was unable to turn his head to see what was happening. Suddenly he rolled over when one of the eldar kicked him and he looked straight up at the alien’s faceplate. The eldar held its rifle off to the side and drew a long serrated blade. Dugrut's final thought as the eldar thrust the blade down into his chest was that being stabbed was at least a proper way to die. As Dugrut’s killer pulled his blade free of the ork’s corpse the other eldar warriors gathered around him. “The beasts are dead lord sybarite.” One of the warriors spoke, his head lowered in deference to his superior. “Yes,” the sybarite replied calmly, wiping the blood from his blade, “I felt their agonies. You have done well my warriors; now send word to the archon. Tell him the way is open for him to come here.” |
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Copyright Notice 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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