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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 20 | |
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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 20 |
Leaving
the genestealers buried in the tunnel, the raiding party continued to
follow Ratish. The gretchin led them to an exit that was positioned just
as he had said it was, between two rows of half built vehicles where the
ground dipped steeply. Sticking
his head up out of the hole Hazug looked around using the tau viewing
device for a clearer look. The large number of vehicles, both completed
and half built obstructed his view somewhat but Hazug was still able to
make out the locations of several strong points and artillery positions.
More significantly he spotted a large shed located close to the entrance
to the mine itself and outside this the ork glyph for explosives was
painted crudely on the walls. Hazug
grinned. “Found
it.” He said, looking back down into the hole, “Da explosives we needs is
over dare.” “How
far?” Claudius asked. Claudius
turned to the other Imperial troops, letting them know in gothic of what
Hazug had found. “What
about these vehicles?” Rell asked. “Don’t
look like anyone’s anywhere near ‘em.” Hazug replied, also in
gothic. “Perhaps
my men could see to disabling them while you go for the explosives.” Rell
said. “Good
idea.“ Hazug said, “Meanwhile, my lads is off for da explosives. Claudius,
is ya bringin’ ya ‘ard boys an’ all?” Claudius
nodded and raised his bolter. “Lead
the way.” He said. Hazug
readied his rifle and then climbed out of the hole, moving cautiously
between the various vehicles in the direction of the explosives store.
Following immediately after came Ratish and the rest of the Blood Axes.
They did not need to be told how to move without giving themselves away,
it came to them instinctively and as he watched from the hole Captain
Claudius could not help but contrast the way they moved from cover to
cover and kept weapons trained on likely sources of attack was impressive
considering the typical ork tactics of screaming at the top of their
voices and charging straight at an enemy. There
was a sudden blur of movement as Mayleth also leapt from the hole and went
after Hazug, easily overtaking the other Blood Axes. “You
should come with us.” He then told Hazug’s human servants, “Keep up and
keep quiet.” Then he pulled himself out of the hole and headed in the same
direction as Hazug’s orks had gone. The other marines did not wait for an
order; instead they grabbed hold of Rhia, Salia and Sophie to help them
out of the hole ahead of them and then followed their captain. For the
three young women, their surroundings were dark and it was difficult for
any of them to make out any details. But thanks to their armour the
marines could see almost as well as in daylight. So when something close
by moved they spotted it immediately. “Contact
right.” Greystorm said, his words broadcast to the rest of the marines
across their squad communication link as well as back to the stormtroopers
who were only now emerging from the hole. “Identify
source.” Claudius responded as the marine squad came to a sudden
halt. “What’s
wrong?” Salia asked as she narrowly avoided running right into
Abram. “Movement.
Stay still, stay quiet.” The marine told her. “I
think I may be able to help.” Jarr suddenly said, keeping his voice low
but still making Salia jump. None of the three women had even suspected
that the former assassin had been right behind them until he chose to
reveal his presence. He removed his rifle from his back and handed the
case to Sophie with the precious weapon still inside it, “Look after
this.” He said and as Sophie took the rifle from him Jarr drew his pistol
and produced a silencer that he rapidly attached to the muzzle, “Wait
here.” He then said to Claudius before darting between two nearby
battlewagons in search of the source of the movement and vanished from
view. Reaching
the rear of the battlewagons, Jarr peered around one. From here he could
hear someone moving around a lot more clearly and then there were voices.
These were not the deep and loud voices of orks, though the language was
the same but instead Jarr found himself looking at a trio of gretchin. If
anything this was worse than orks. The larger greenskins would likely not
notice anyone sneaking around in the dark but their smaller cousins were
known for their superior hearing and attention to detail that the average
ork. Many orks camps used gretchin as sentries for just this reason;
though they would be unlikely to be able to drive off an attacker they
were ideal for raising the alarm. Jarr
knew that he could take all three out in rapid succession, but it would
only take one of them to scream for the entire plan to be ruined so he
needed a way to distract them. Fortunately greenskins were naturally
untidy and so the ground was strewn with the leftover pieces of metal used
to make the battlewagons from and Jarr bent down to pick one of these up
before hurling it into the darkness. The
piece of metal echoed as it struck another battlewagon and then bounced to
the ground. Turning back to look at the gretchin Jarr saw that this had
had the exact effect he had desired and all three were now looking towards
the source of the sound. Then they began to talk amongst themselves,
shoving one another as if they were arguing and then finally two of them
began to creep towards where the piece of metal had
landed. Jarr
aimed at the third gretchin, the one who had not moved and squeezed the
trigger of his pistol once. Then without waiting to observe the effects of
the shot that he knew would have struck the gretchin in the side of his
head he swung the pistol around towards the other two. Twice more he
fired, first taking down the gretchin that had been hanging back in the
hope that should there be anything dangerous lurking amongst the
battlewagons then it would be his comrade who was killed first and then
taking out the final gretchin before he even knew that either of the other
two had been harmed. Then
Jarr paused, waiting to see whether there were any more of the creatures
around. But when there was only silence he reached a hand to his personal
communicator and activated it. Hazug
and the Blood Axes were waiting by the end of the row of battlewagons when
Claudius caught up with them. “Shuddup
da lot of ya.” Hazug said, “We gotta get to dat shed.” And he pointed to
the building he believed held the explosives they
needed. There
was a short gap between the row of battlewagons and the shed, but it was
across open ground and if even one of the raiding party was discovered now
then the mission would undoubtedly fail. There were too many orks and
genestealers in the camp for the raiding party to fight them
all. “Can
ya crawl dat far?” Hazug asked Claudius. “Of
course.” The marine replied. “Good.
Den dis is wot we’ll do.” Hazug began, “Me and me lads’ll ‘ead right for
dat shed and ya’ll all crawl along beside us, usin’ us as a shield to stop
yaselves bein’ spotted.” “And
what you are seen?” Claudius asked. Claudius
nodded. “Very
well,” he said, “we will follow your plan.” “Good,
but perhaps ya best leave ya lad with dat big shoota ‘ere to cover us if
we needs it.” Hazug suggested, looking at Prosnow, “I’ll be leavin’ dat
lot with ‘im.” And then he looked at his own servants. “I
aint gonna be gone long.” Hazug interrupted, “Ya’ll stick right out if ya
gets seen.” Sophie
watched as Hazug and the other orks began to calmly walk towards the shed
where the explosives for the mine were stored while around her Jarr and
Salia crouched beside the closest battlewagon and kept watch for anyone
approaching and Rhia drew her own pistol. This un-nerved Sophie when she
noticed it and she stopped watching Hazug and instead took up a position
that allowed her to join her sister in keeping watch while also keeping an
eye on Rhia. Mayleth
and Prosnow also took up positions that offered the best possible view.
Mayleth had an advantage here, her eyesight offering even better night
vision than Prosnow’s armour. But the marine was till able to set himself
up to cover his fellow marines as they began to crawl alongside Hazug’s
commando team, crouching down to give himself a more stable firing
position from his heavy bolter. Though
Hazug remained focused on the large shed in front of him he also made sure
to watch for any movement that could indicate that his force had been
discovered. If anything went wrong now the entire plan of attack would be
foiled. Making it safely to the shed Hazug found it unlocked and he turned
to his commandoes. There
he found that the interior was lined with shelves filled with explosives
of almost every type imaginable. Hazug saw blocks of malleable explosives
as well as preformed sticks and even jars filled with various liquids and
powders. Amongst these stood a single ork who was passing sticks of
explosive to a gretchin standing just behind him. From the looks of the
crude cybernetic implants protruding from his skull the ork was a mekboy
and in keeping with what Hazug knew about the mine he wore the blue and
white of the Death Skull clan. “Wotcha
want?” the mekboy asked, turning to face the three newcomers. The
mekboy snarled. Hazug
then turned towards the gretchin. Had this been any normal ork fort then
it may have been possible to simply intimidate the gretchin into switching
sides, but given what little Hazug knew about the genestealers’ control
over the infected greenskins he could not take the chance this
time. “Get
im.” He said and both Thrak and Krask charged
forwards. The
gretchin dropped the box he held, spilled sticks of explosive over the
floor and drew in breath to issue a cry of warning to the other orks in
the camp. But before he could shout his warning Thrak dived at him,
striking him in the abdomen and painfully forcing all of the air from his
lungs. With the gretchin pinned to the floor beneath him Thrak clamped a
hand over its mouth and then looked at Krask and
nodded. “Do
it.” He said and Krask brought the heel of his boot down on the gretchin’s
forehead until there was a distinct ‘crack’ and blood began to flow out of
his ears and nose. Hazug
then stepped back to the door and leant outside, picking up the weapons he
had left there. With
two marines remaining by the door to keep watch Hazug’s commandoes and the
rest of Claudius’ men began to make their way along the shelves, picking
out blocks of explosives that they could push the detonators prepared by
Mek Batrug into to form completed bombs. “Boss,
we needs more of dese.” Nugkor said, holding up the last of his
detonators. Hazug
then looked at Claudius. “Rhia?
The traitor?” Claudius commented and Hazug grinned. “Aye.”
He responded, “I reckons dat if she puts a foot wrong den Mayleth is gonna
‘ave to move quick to get to ‘er before either ya lad or Sophie shoots ‘er
in da back.” Without
replying to this Claudius activated his armour’s built in
communicator. “Brother
Prosnow.” He transmitted. “We
require more of the ork detonators. Collect together all your group has
and send the woman Rhia to us with them. Caution her to stay low to avoid
being seen.” “Understood
brother captain. Prosnow out.” Hazug
began to collect together some of the bombs they had prepared, loading
them into a pair of the bags that had previously held
detonators. “Wot’s
git ‘ere for master?” Ratish hissed as he pushed the last of his
detonators into a block of plastic explosive. “I
brought the detonators.” She told him. “Good
Hazug said, “Now give ‘em ‘ere and take dese.” And he held up the two bags
of bombs, “Dese need to go back to Rell and ‘is lads. Take Mayleth with ya
and tell ‘em to start lookin’ for places to put dese bomms. Den we’ll meet
back by da tunnel entrance before da sun comes up.
Goddit?” Rhia
nodded as she strained to hold both bags, her weak arm not strong enough
to take the weight on it’s own. “Git
too weak.” Ratish hissed. “She’ll
make it to da others.” Hazug replied and then he looked at Rhia, “Won’t
ya?” he asked and she nodded. “I
think so.” She said. When
Rhia was gone Hazug began to collect more of the bombs scattered around
the floor. Rhia
set the explosives down by the battlewagon and rubbed her
shoulder. “Hazug
says we’re to take these to the stormtroopers.” She told
Mayleth. “Then
you should give me one of those bags mon’keigh.” Mayleth replied, “I’d
hate for the timers to run down while you’re still staggering around under
the weight.” And then she reached out and picked up one of the bags, “Come
on then.” She said to Rhia, “If our master wishes us to provide this
explosives to your fellow mon’keigh then we should do as he says.” Then a
smile spread across her face, “Unless you’d rather he gave you another
beating, you still have one arm left for him to
break.” Frowning,
Rhia picked up the other bag and followed Mayleth. It
was Mayleth that found the stormtroopers, creeping up behind Henner while
he was supposed to be watching out for anyone
approaching. “Throne!”
he exclaimed as he spun around and aimed his hellgun at her when she
tapped him on the shoulder, “I could have shot you.” “Over
there.” Henner replied, pointing to a nearby battlewagon and without a
further word Mayleth headed towards it. “My
master sends you these.” She announced as she climbed into the vehicle to
find Rell and Torris prying open a panel beside the battlewagon’s control
column, “He says you should begin to position them where they be most
useful. The meet back at the tunnel entrance before
dawn.” “Ah,
excellent.” Rell replied, “Well we’ve been able to sabotage a significant
number of these vehicles even without explosives. So I suggest that we
start on the fixed defences.” “Yes
sir.” Torris responded, “I’ll inform the men. I suggest splitting into
pairs. One man to set charges and the other to keep
watch.” “I
agree.” Rell said with a nod, “You and I will go together. You pick the
other pairings.” “Just
hope that the beasts occupying this place make more noise approaching your
lookouts than I did.” Mayleth commented. “I
reckon ya lads is best goin’ after some of da lobbas.” Hazug said as he
divided up the remaining explosives between his commandoes and Claudius’
marines, “Dey is further from da gate and aint gonna ‘ave so many people
in places wot can see ‘em.” “And
what will you targets be?” Claudius asked. “I’ll
take me lads to deal with da guns coverin’ da gate from da inside.” Hazug
replied, “It aint gonna do us no good if Two Heads’ comes chargin’ in and
all ‘is wagons get shot up.”
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