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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 12 | |
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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 12 |
“Now
captain?” Prosnow asked as the ork vehicle halted. “Not
yet.” Claudius replied, “Wait for the xenos to get clear of their
vehicle.” The
marines watched patiently as the orks disembarked from their vehicle and
rushed towards the wrecked drop pod. The data feed from the pod to
Claudius’ armour indicated that the machine spirit was still active, but
without its storm bolter the pod was defenceless. When
they reached the pod some of the orks began rummaging through the pieces
that had been blown off by their attack while the rest focused on trying
to pull of anything still attached that looked
useful “Now!”
Claudius snapped and in unison the marines opened fire. Eight bolters, a
bolt pistol and a heavy bolter all firing at the same time put a lot of
shots into the area occupied by the ork mob and it was only their natural
resilience that prevented all of them being wiped out in an instant. As it
was only two of them survived because they were shielded from the worst of
the bolter fire by the drop pod itself. The
two surviving orks returned fire, but their pistols were no match for
marine bolters and lacked the penetrating power to pierce their power
armour unless they were fortunate enough to find a weak point. For the
marines the problem was that the wrecked drop pod provided the two orks
with excellent cover. However, they had with them a weapon that was
designed to root out enemies who sought to hide from the wrath of the
Deathwatch. “Brother
Mortium. Advance. We will cover you.” Claudius
ordered. “Understood.”
Mortium replied and as he got to his feet he holstered his pistol and
unslung his flamer. Moving around the drop pod while his fellow marines
continued to keep the orks attention focused on them he activated the
weapon’s ignition system and aimed it towards the pod. Then he dropped to
one knee and pulled the trigger. There was a sudden ‘Whoosh!’ as a jet of
burning promethium was projected towards the drop pod. The burning liquid
flowed around the structure of the drop pod and enveloped the two orks,
producing screams of pain as their flesh burned. Knowing that his task was
complete Mortium released the trigger to avoid wasting precious
ammunition. “Targets
eliminated captain.” He said as the other marines emerged from
cover. The
jet of flame was highly visible from the sky. “Wot
was dat?” Krask exclaimed when he saw it. “Take
us back to da others.” He called out to the pilot, “I gotta ‘ave a little
word with dat Rell.” The
warcopter’s pilot turned to head back towards the ground convoy, the
second aircraft following behind him. The convoy was exactly where it was
supposed to be, circling around the outside of the forest where the
genestealers had attacked Hazug and the two warcopters descended, setting
down in front of the lead truck. The convoy came to a halt, the various
trucks and armoured vehicles spreading out into a line abreast rather than
a single column. Hazug
jumped down from the warcopter and strode towards Two Heads’ battlewagon,
knowing that was where he would find Rell. As he neared the vehicle a side
hatch opened and Two Heads jumped down from it. “Dat
Rell still in dare?” Hazug asked. “I
don’t need to ask about whether dey is ‘ere.” Hazug replied, “I already
seen ‘em.” Then he looked down at Two Heads hyperphase sword, “Ya know ‘ow
to use dat properly?” he asked. “Sure
I do.” Two Heads answered. “Good.
Cause ya may just need it real soon.” Hazug
then climbed into the battlewagon and grabbed hold of
Rell. “Hazug
what are you doing?” Sophie exclaimed and Rell’s stormtroopers all reached
for their weapons. Hazug
thrust the tau viewing devices into Rell’s hand. “Look.”
He told the inquisitor in gothic, “Press dat and look. Keep
pressin’.” Rell
lifted the device to his eye and looked into it. Then when he pressed the
button indicated by Hazug and rather than showing what was directed
towards at the time, the image produced by the device was a magnified one
of the marines as Hazug had seen them from the air. “So
wotcha got to say for yaself den?” Hazug asked and he let go of
Rell. “The
Deathwatch.” The inquisitor said. “Deathwatch?
Here?” Jarr repeated. “What’s
the Deathwatch?” Salia asked. “The
Deathwatch is a force of Adeptus Astartes that work directly with the
Ordos Xenos.” Rell said as he handed the tau viewing device back to Hazug,
“Alien hunters.” “So
wot is dey doin’ ‘ere?” Hazug said to Rell. “Not
all of my peers feel as I do about persuading you to attack the tyrannids.
They believe that it is not possible.” Rell replied, “My presence here is
unauthorised. My guess would be that they are here to either kill me or
take me back to face judgement.” “Which
would also be a death sentence.” Jarr commented. “Indeed.”
Rell added in agreement. Hazug
frowned. “My
men are equipped to deal with them if necessary.” Torris said and he
patted his hell gun. “I
would rather that was not necessary sergeant.” Rell replied, “They are
Imperial troops following orders after all.” “Isn’t
there some way we could persuade them to join us?” Sophie asked. “But
didn’t he say that the people who sent them here thought that the orks
wouldn’t work with you?” Salia asked. “That’s
right.” Sophie agreed, “What if you could show them that we are working
together?” “Marines
do adapt to changing situations.” Jarr said. “Very
well.” Rell said, “I will attempt to talk to them.” “Beakies?
‘Ere?” one asked, “’Ow come?” the other added. “Rell
reckons dey is ‘ere for ‘im.” Hazug replied, “But ‘e’s gonna try and talk
‘em into joinin’ us instead.” “Da
lads aint gonna like dat.” Two Heads warned. “And
wot ‘appens when da boss finds out?” one of Two Heads asked while the
other just glared at Hazug. “Da
boss said dat I should take wotever lads I needs.” Hazug reminded him, “Ya
was dare. Well if dese marines is wot I ‘as been told dey is den we needs
‘em. So I is just followin’ orders.” “Ya
better ‘ope da boss sees it dat way.” Two Heads replied and then the other
added a warning, ”Cause I aint backin’ ya up if ‘e
don’t.” Tenus
and Corrim kept watch while the other marines went over what was left of
the drop pod in search of anything useful. There were emergency kits
included for all ten passengers that the pod had carried that contained
supplies that would bolster their meagre supplies somewhat, but did not
offer anything that they did not already have in their own personal
equipment. “The
storm bolter.” Greystorm said. “Wrecked.”
Claudius replied, “In any case it is not designed to be detached and fired
by hand.” Claudius
nodded. “Reinforcements
for the unit we destroyed?” Slyder suggested as the squad moved towards
Corrim’s position. “They
did not have the opportunity to signal for assistance.” Varrin pointed
out, “Nor the equipment.” Two
vehicles were approaching the marine position. Both used a mix of tracks
and wheel for locomotion and were completely enclosed, concealing their
occupants from view even with a space marine’s enhanced vision. For one of
these, the rear section was covered only by what looked like pieces of
assorted fabrics and animal hides stitch together to form a cover large
enough while the second vehicle appeared to be fully
armoured. For
Claudius this armoured vehicle was the greater source of concern. His
squad was not equipped for anti-tank operations and while they all carried
krak grenades that could probably damage it from the sides or rear, using
them meant getting dangerously close. Fortunately the captain knew that
orks favoured getting close to their targets. Not only was dealing with
their enemies in close combat a matter of preference, their marksmanship
was notoriously poor. He also knew that the eagerness of the orks to get
into battle might result in them abandoning the protection offered by
their vehicles to come at the marines on foot. “Prosnow.”
He said to the marine armed with the heavy bolter, “Prepare to engage that
soft covered vehicle. Everyone else stand by to engage any passengers that
disembark.” “Ready
captain.” Prosnow responded and he lifted the heavy bolter to the height
of his shoulder, resting it on the side of the
gully. The
two ork vehicles continued to head towards the wrecked drop pod, guided by
the smoke that still drifted upwards from parts of it. This path took them
right past the marines and Captain Claudius and his men turn to keep track
of them. “Now!”
Claudius snapped as the vehicles presented their side armour to the
marines and Prosnow opened fired with his heavy bolter. The powerful
rounds ripped through the fabric covering and there were sudden screams
from inside as they also penetrated some of the passengers concealed
within before detonating. Then a round missed the covered rear area and
instead punched through the side of the engine, exploding inside it and
bringing the vehicle to a sudden halt. At the same time the rear of the
vehicle was thrown open and the remaining passengers began to leap
out. “Open
fire!” Claudius ordered and aside from Mortium the remaining marines
opened fire, firing individually aimed shots at the orks as soon as they
appeared. Tenus
grinned as he saw one of his rounds strike an ork who’s appearance was
hidden beneath a hooded robe and there was a plume of blood that indicated
the shot had struck a limb. But then from beneath the cloak a pair of
uninjured arms appeared and reached out towards him as the ork came
charging closer at a rate faster than Tenus had ever seen an ork move
before now. Meanwhile
the driver of the second ork vehicle had swung it around and was charging
straight at the marines in the gully. Prosnow turned his attention to this
vehicle and fired a short burst from his heavy bolter, but although every
round hit the vehicle and exploded right against its hull, it kept on
coming. “Brother
Prosonow, cease fire.” Claudius ordered, “Conserve your
ammunition.” “Yes
captain.” Prosnow replied as he stopped shooting. The
orks forced to disembark from the disabled battlewagon then did something
unexpected, they split up and began to spread out. The marines had
expected them to charge headlong right at them, an action that would have
made them vulnerable to the marines bolters fired on fully automatic at
close range. But by spreading themselves out they did not form the closely
spaced clumps that were vulnerable to automatic fire or grenades. In
addition the second battlewagon was still closing in on
them. “Why
aren’t they firing?” Varrin asked and Claudius realised that the marine
was correct, the orks had yet to fire a single shot in reply to their
ambush despite both vehicles clearly mounting belt fed weapons on their
roofs or fired through portholes. “Just
keep shooting.” Claudius said, “We do not need to question the alien, only
to kill him.” and then he put a bolt round through the head of an
ork. “They’re
in the gully!” Slyer yelled as some of the first orks to disembark from
their battlewagon reached the gully some way down and began to leap down
into it. Thanks to the way it curved, this put them out of sight of the
marines for now. “Mortium,”
Claudius said, “drive them back.” The
orks closest to Mortium died without a sound, the flames engulfed them and
burned their lungs before they could cry out but the orks further back
screamed as they were set alight. One of them then did something
particularly unexpected. He leapt up the side of the gully to the ground
above and ripped off the cloak that concealed his features, tossing the
burning garment back into the gully. Such an agile move was out of
character for an ork but now that his cloak was gone Mortium could see
that this was no ordinary ork. Apart from the misshapen head that could
have been caused by any one of the injuries orks typically suffered from
during their lives the ork possessed an extra pair of arms that ended in
clawed hands. As a member of the Deathwatch Mortium knew exactly what that
meant. “Genestealers!”
he yelled as he dropped his flamer and drew his pistol again, trying to
target the hybrid rushing along the top of the gully. But before he got
the chance to fire a shadow fell over him and he looked up the other side
of the gully to see another cloaked figure looming above him and he spun
around to face it as it jumped down towards him. He pointed his bolt
pistol at the figure’s head, but he reacted fast enough to grab hold of
the pistol in both hands and push it aside so that when Mortium fired the
round instead blasted a hole in the mud at the side of the gully. Then
from beneath his cloak the hybrid reached out with a clawed hand and
slashed Mortium’s throat open. The claws of a genestealer were capable of
ripping open even tanks and so the relatively weak protection offered by
Mortium’s power armour at his neck was unable to offer any protection and
a spurt of blood sprayed across the gully wall. “Mortium’s
down!” Tenus exclaimed and he turned just in time to fire a burst of
bolter rounds into the hybrid that had just killed his fellow marine and
then put another shot into the one that had leapt clear of the flamer
blast. “Recover
his flamer.” Claudius ordered, “We may still need
it.” The
second ork vehicle drove right up to the edge of the gully and the soft
dirt of the side gave way, tipping the front of the vehicle into it.
Fortunately for Claudius none of his troops were caught beneath the
vehicle though the squad was now separated by it, with Claudius and four
of his men on one side and the remaining four on the
other. However,
this was also the opportunity that Claudius had been hoping
for. “Fire
in the hole!” he shouted as he plucked a grenade from his equipment
harness, pulled out the pin and shoved it through a vision slit right in
front of him. Rather than an anti-armour krak grenade he had selected a
fragmentation one so that when it went off the inside of the vehicle was
filled with shrapnel that bounced around until it found something soft
enough to block it and this meant the bodies of the orks inside.
Unfortunately in the time it took Claudius to prepare and deliver the
grenade most of the battlewagon’s passengers were already leaping out of
the back of the vehicle and then down into the
gully. Standing
closest to the vehicle on the far side from Claudius Slyder was the first
target of the hybrids as one of them leapt down on top of him. He was able
to press the muzzle of his bolter up against the hybrid and fired two
shots into its abdomen as the alien’s jaw snapped at his faceplate and
attempted to bite through it but then the creature used its extra clawed
arm to rip the bolter free of his grasp and hurled it aside before using a
single claw to punch through one of Slyder’s
eyepieces. “By
the Spear of Russ, die foul xenos!” Greystorm yelled at the hybrid that
had just killed his squad mate and when the hybrid turned to face him it
found itself facing his combat blade. Thrusting this forwards, Greystorm
drove the tip of his blade into the hybrid under its jaw and sliced
downwards, opening up its chest and causing its major organs to spill out
into the gully. Knowing
that with his men split into two groups unable to assist one another they
would undoubtedly be overwhelmed Claudius accepted that it was time to
seek a better position from which to fight the
aliens. “Fall
back.” Claudius ordered, “Fall back to the drop
pod.” Greystorm
growled, understanding the order to fall back even if he did not like it.
Then he the other marines with him, Abram, Corrim and Varrin, began to
fall back along the gully. They took turns to halt and provide covering
fire, holding back the orks and hybrids while the other three
retreated. On
the other side of the crashed battlewagon however, the marines found their
path back to the drop pod blocked by the wreck and were left with no
option but to scale the side of the gully. Prosnow went first, heaving his
heavy bolter up with him and then turning to face the soft skinned
battlewagon he had already disabled. It was then that the orks finally
opened fire with a short burst from one of the automatic weapons mounted
to the vehicle hitting Prosnow. Most of the soft tipped bullets simply
bounced off the hardened ceramite of his powered armour, but one of them
was able to penetrate his right shin and he toppled over before returning
fire. The burst of heavy bolter shells he fired found their target, the
vision slit used to aim the weapon just used against him and from inside
the battlewagon there was a brief cry before the weapon
drooped. “Brother
Prosnow, can you stand?” Claudius asked as he too climbed from the
gully. “I
think so.” Prosnow replied. Luckily
for Vartus he was not alone in the gully, Tenus was still there and he
swung the butt of his bolter like a club to knock one of the orks aside
before turning the weapon around and shooting the ork in the chest. A
second ork roared as it turned, swinging its blade at Tenus’ head and
there was a scraping sound as the tip dragged across his faceplate and
then snapped. This gave Tenus the opportunity to fire again, emptying the
last of his current magazine into the ork. Tenus then reached for his
combat blade, but as he did so another hybrid lunged at him from behind
and grabbed hold of his wrist with a clawed hand, twisting it so hard that
it broke. Tenus winced but did not cry out, his altered metabolism acting
to control the pain. However, he was now caught between the ork in front
of him and the hybrid behind and was holding only an empty
bolter. It
was Captain Claudius himself that saved both Tenus and Vartus, leaping
back down into the gully and drawing his sword. The moment it was free of
its scabbard there was a hum and green sparks moved from the hilt to the
tip as the power field generator concealed with it activated. Claudius
swung the power sword as the ork was still coming to terms with his sudden
reappearance and before the alien could react, Claudius sliced his head
from his shoulders. This just left the hybrid. Had the alien been using
one of its normal arms to hold onto Tenus wrist it may have stood a chance
of being able to injure Claudius but as it was the powerful claws it
possessed were still being used to restrain the other marine and when
Claudius extended his arm forwards the power sword passed close by Tenus’
helmet before skewering the hybrid through its head. “Tenus,
Vartus.” Claudius said, ”Report.” “My
armour is damaged captain.” Vartus replied, his voice muffled by his own
helmet, “No power to any systems. Claudius
assessed the tactical situation. Though one half of his squad had been
able to fall back, he was now pinned down with one marine in damaged
armour and two who were injured. Overall things were looking
grim. “Abram,
what is your position?” Claudius transmitted, hoping that the rest of the
squad could still be in a position to assist him. “We’re
almost at the pod captain. Just exiting the gully now. The enemy is in
pursuit. Estimate twenty plus.” Abram responded. This
was not good. The other half of his men were in no position to help
Claudius, while he was in no position to get the three men left with him
to safety. Then there was a flash from overhead followed by the
distinctive sound of a missile and the battlewagon that had been keeping
them pinned down suddenly exploded.
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