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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 25 | |
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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 25 |
The
genestealers hissed as Graffgan fell dead and they began to advance
menacingly towards Hazug and his group. “Kuruk.”
Hazug said. “Boss?”
the commando replied. “Light
‘em up.” Hazug told him and the flamethrower armed ork grinned as he
raised his weapon. Then he laughed as he triggered the weapon and waved it
in front of him, producing screeches of pain and surprise from the
genestealers too slow to evade the attack. “Behind
us my master!” Mayleth called out as another of the genestealers leapt
from a nearby roof. But Mayleth jumped into the air with a blade held high
and as the alien creature passed above her she sliced it open from its
neck to it groin. Rhia squealed in disgust as the genestealer’s organs
came tumbling out just centimetres in front of her. “Let
rip!” Hazug yelled as he pointed his rifle at a hut where several
genestealers were clustered on the roof and he fired the rocket mounted
beneath the main barrel. Then even as the explosive projectile was still
streaking towards it target he dropped his rifle, grasped his warscythe in
both hands and activated the energy field around its
blade. The
rocket struck the roof of the hut it was aimed at, only narrowly missing a
hybrid. But the detonation of the warhead weakened the hut’s structure and
it collapsed under the weight of the genestealers on its
roof. “Quick!
Shoot them.” Sophie exclaimed and she, Rhia and Salia and aimed their
weapons and opened fire. “Away
from da wall.” Hazug told his troops as he thrust the tip of his warscythe
upwards at where a genestealer purestrain had appeared just above his
head, neatly slicing through its neck. A second creature jumped down
before the Blood Axes could react, landing on top of Brunnusk and using
its claws to tear open his chest. Jarr
spun and delivered a kick to the genestealers head that pushed it away
from Brunnusk, even though it was already too late for the unfortunate
ork. But the attack knocked the creature off balance long enough for
Harbok and Drogon to leap on top of it, hacking away with their
blades. As
the group retreated from their position by the wall Kuruk let loose with
another blast of flame that engulfed the hut they had been standing
beside. Now there were burning buildings on two sides while between them
the genestealers began to close in. Thrak
opened fire with his heavy weapon. The burst cut two genestealers in half
before a purestrain lunged for him and grabbed hold of his weapon’s barrel
and lifted it upwards, preventing him from using it. “Kill!”
Ratish hissed as he let go of Cuddles’ leash and the squig leapt at the
purestrain while Thrak was in effect holding it in place. He opened his
jaws wide and closed them as he collided with the alien, sinking his teeth
into its neck. With
the genestealers so close Jarr slung his rifle over his shoulder and drew
his pistol instead. Beside him he suddenly became aware of Mayleth,
something that concerned him since there were few individuals who were
capable of sneaking up on someone trained by the Officio
Assassinorum. “We
move together mon’keigh.” The eldar said as she returned her blade to its
scabbard and drew a second pistol, “Cover me and try not to slow me down
too much.” And then she leapt towards the closest genestealer, a hybrid
and fired both pistols simultaneously. Jarr followed, pointing his pistol
at anything that looked like it was trying to get behind Mayleth and
firing single aimed shots that put down a target with each
bullet. The
genestealers’ main attention remained focused on Hazug and his commandoes
however. They possessed the majority of the group’s firepower as well as
being physically bigger and stronger and despite having their genetic
structure watered down by the genestealer part of their DNA the hybrids
still believed deep down in the ancient orkish ideal that bigger was
better. Hazug
swung his warscythe horizontally; slicing through multiple opponents at
once while beside him Ratish fired his pistol at anything that looked like
it was going to get past the alien blade. Thrak fired his heavy weapon
again, holding down the trigger until the entire belt was
expended. “Look
out!” Salia screamed and as Thrak looked around she raised her lasgun and
fired it into the hybrid’s chest. At such short range even the relatively
weak energy blasts were enough to punch right through the alien and it
stumbled just before reaching Thrak, knocking him over but leaving him
otherwise unharmed. Kuruk
also soon found himself out of ammunition. The flamethrower was effective
at keeping the genestealers back, but the bulky fuel tank on his back did
not contain an inexhaustible supply of flammable liquid and the weapon
spluttered as it ran out. Then
a shot rang out that did not come from any of Hazug’s troops and Nugkor
fell. “Master!
Dey’s got shootas now!” Ratish snapped as he saw a hybrid wielding a
pistol. Another
hybrid then produced a pistol and fired it, targeting Jarr as he and
Mayleth continued to skirt around the main group and picking off
genestealers as they went. “Jarr!”
Sophie exclaimed as she saw him collapse, but then as another hybrid
charged towards him to try and finish him off the assassin rolled over and
shot it in the head. “I’m
fine!” he gasped as Mayleth closed in to protect him, “My armour stopped
it.” “Load
me shoota.” Hazug ordered and Ratish looked around for where the discarded
rifle now lay. Fortunately it was within the perimeter that the Blood Axes
had established and he dashed to the weapon before returning to Hazug with
it. Then he pulled one Hazug’s spare magazines from his belt and pushed it
into the rifle. “Ratish
done it master.” The gretchin exclaimed just as Hazug impaled another
genestealer through the chest. Then rather than withdraw the warscythe he
simply shut off the power supply to the blade and let it fall with the
corpse it was embedded in while he grabbed hold of his rifle.
“’Old
‘em back!” he yelled at his commandoes as he chambered a round he set the
rifle to semi-automatic. Then letting his troops keep the bulk of
genestealers back he picked out one of the pistol armed ones and fired
several rounds in rapid succession, ceasing when he saw the hybrid fall,
“Mayleth! Jarr! Look for dem with shootas.” He shouted as he spotted a
second armed hyrbid and fired again. Runnug’s
orks hit the wall of shields like a wave and Runnug himself simply ripped
the shield away from the Goff unfortunate to be facing him before smashing
his skull open with his axe. Gorgoga
snarled as he stepped forwards to face Runnug and swung his power claw at
the other nob, the weapon proving too slow too use for him to score a hit
with his first attempt. Instead Runnug used the dead ork’s shield to parry
the blow, creating a brief flash of light as the power claw’s energy
discharged on impact. As
the shield line buckled in front of Thuggrim he pushed the muzzle of his
rifle into the gap created and fired, the bullet passing straight through
the genestealer controlled ork on the other side and then hitting a second
one unlucky enough to be behind him in the crush. Meanwhile the other
madboys continued to fire their weapons over the Goffs’ shields, the dense
pack of orks on the other side impossible to miss. Watching
Gorgoga try and battle Runnug, Drazzok saw an opportunity and he charged
the Death Skull with his staff pointing directly ahead of
him. “Kop
dis ya thievin’ Death Skull!” he yelled as he thrust the tip of his staff
at Runnug. The excitement of battle had allowed Drazzok to build up a fair
amount of the psychic energy that he discharged in its entirety into
Runnug and the Death Skull nob screamed as he was engulfed in green flame
before he simply exploded, splattering the orks all around him with
charred flesh. Another ork tried to step through the gap in the shield
wall now left open by Runnug’s death, but the moment he stepped into the
gap itself and was unable to evade any attack Gorgoga punched him in the
chest with his power claw, tearing open his ribcage in the process. Then
Gorgoga raised his shield and stepped into the gap to plug
it. “Hazug
better get a bleedin’ move on.” He said out loud, “We aint gonna ‘old dis
lot back forever.” Then
there was the rattle of automatic weapons fire. At first Gorgoga thought
that the genestealer controlled orks had brought up a heavy weapon, but
then he realised that the noise was coming from overhead and he looked up
to see the two warcopters swooping down towards him, both firing
simultaneously into the crowd on the other side of the shield wall. The to
lightweight aircraft ceased fire as they began to pull up again and at
that moment Druken and his stormboys leapt over the sides. In their hands
they clutched stick shaped grenades that they dropped just before
triggering their rocket packs to slow their descent. The grenades landed
amongst the crowd of genestealer controlled orks who found themselves
unable to try and get clear thanks to their own numbers and when the
grenades went off dozens of them were torn apart. Meanwhile Gorgoga and
Thuggrim’s troops remained safe behind their thick shield
wall. Then
the stormboys landed, having drawn their hand weapons and pistols. They
dropped not into the gaps created by their grenades but instead into the
remaining portions of the mob of genestealer controlled orks, using the
blast from their rocket packs to clear even more them by turning them into
living torches. They began to shoot and hack at anything within reach the
moment their feet touched the ground and in this chaos Gorgoga saw an
opportunity. “Geddem
lads!” he yelled, raising his power claw into the air and stepping
forwards. Instantly one of the closest genestealer controlled orks tried
to attack him, but Gorgoga simply swatted him aside with a swing of his
power claw that smashed his opponent’s skull wide open. Then as the shield
line broke open Gorgoga gave a yell, “Waaargh!” Despite
the success of his troops in keeping the genestealers at a distance it was
obvious to Hazug that they were still surrounded. Jarr and Mayleth had
fallen back to join the rest of the group and right now they were all
watching for the genestealers as they darted between burning buildings,
searching for an approach that the group had
overlooked. “This
position is not favourable my master.” Mayleth said as she reloaded one of
her splinter pistols. “I
sees dat.” Hazug replied as he looked around in search of an escape route.
Then Ratish tugged at his trouser leg. Hazug
listened, staring in the direction that Ratish had indicated, but over the
sound of gunfire and shouted warnings he heard nothing. Therefore the
first he knew of Batrug’s arrival was when his truck came crashing through
the remains of one the burning buildings. Impaled on the reinforced spiked
metal plate at the front of the vehicle were a pair of still living
genestealers that moved as if trying to free
themselves. There
was another blast of flame as one the apprentice mekboys in the back of
the truck fired his flamethrower at a nearby cluster of genestealers,
forcing them from their hiding place. Reacting to this Thrak fired his
weapon, the hail of bullets cutting down the genestealers but exhausting
the last of his ammunition. “I’m
out boss.” He said to Hazug as he dropped the heavy weapon and drew his
pistol instead. “Don’t
matter.” Hazug replied, “Everyone just get to da
trukk.” The
truck’s gunner fired short bursts of fire to keep the genestealers away
from Hazug and his troops as they ran to the vehicle and were helped
aboard by Batrug and his apprentices. “Get
us outta ‘ere.” Hazug said and he looked back at the burning buildings,
”But ‘ave ya lads torch as many of dese ‘uts as dey can. We’s gonna burn
‘em out.” Then looking at Jarr he added, “Can ya tell da others dat?” and
the assassin nodded as he activated his
communicator. The
sudden arrival of Druken’s stormboys combined with Gorgoga’s charge had
pushed the genestealer-controlled orks back. Normal orks would have either
recovered from this or simply stood their ground. But something about the
genestealers’ control of their minds altered their behaviour, turning what
would have been a momentary retreat into a rout. Druken, Gorgoga and
Thuggrim led their troops after the fleeing orks, exchanging gunfire as
they went. All
of a sudden a building beside the fleeing orks exploded and as the dust
settled Druken was the first to see the reason why. The
genestealer controlled orks now dithered. On two sides of them there was a
force of orks. Turning to face either meant turning their backs on the
others while fleeing to either side meant still being trapped between them
and confusion now reigned. Small groups broke off from the main body of
fleeing orks, attempting to reach safety or attack what they considered to
be the weakest point of their enemy’s lines. Meanwhile
the battlewagon drove straight on, ploughing through the centre of the
orks who tried to make a stand and coming to a halt close to where
Drazzok, Druken and Gorgoga stood. From one of the gun positions Two Heads
looked down at them. “We
got word from Hazug.” One said as the other nodded. Then they swapped with
the first one nodding while the second added, “We is burnin’ dis place to
da ground.
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