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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 30 | |
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Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 30 |
Two
Heads led the first group to reach their assigned tower and the apprentice
mekboys aimed their flamethrowers upwards, clearing it of the genestealers
descending towards them. “Spread
out” one of Two Heads ordered his troops before the other added, “Protect
dese burna boys while dey starts cuttin’.” And the Evil Suns moved to
surround the six apprentices while they reconfigured their flamethrowers
to act as cutting torches. Batrug
was the next to reach his target, grinding to a halt a short distance away
from it. “Right
‘ere!” he snapped as the orks accompanying him fired on the pillar in
front of them to drive off the genestealers infesting it, “Reckon dat
tower’ll ‘id ya do ya?” Batrug then called out towards the aliens as he
raised his blaster, “Well kop dis!” and he opened fire, sending one
powerful blast of energy after another into the pillar. The blast
incinerated the tendrils that had grown around the pillar without effort
before punching fist sized holes into the tower itself, each hit weakening
the base and reducing its ability to support itself - let alone the
ceiling. The
pillar Hazug had assigned himself turned out to be empty of genestealers
when his groups arrived, but they could see the aliens closing in on them
from most sides. “Keep
‘em back.” Hazug said as he began to hack at the pillar with his
warscythe. Jarr
dropped to one knee and unslung his rifle. The advanced scope allowed him
to see further in the darkness and he began to pick off individual
genestealers before they could band together and launch a single massed
charge. The
rest of Hazug’s commandoes and servants just fired at anything they saw
moving close by. The speed at which genestealers moved allowed little time
for target identification and it was fortunate that Hazug’s plan kept the
various elements of the warband apart or there would undoubtedly have been
casualties from friendly fire. Unsurprisingly
Claudius and Rell led the most disciplined group and no specific orders
needed to be given as they closed on their target. The marines and most of
the stormtroopers, along with the inquisitor himself formed a cordon
around the structure while Cubrim studied it before turning to speak to
Jackson. “This
structure consists of four primary support columns, joined by a
latticework of interconnected lining beams.” He explained, providing more
detail than the soldier really needed, “I suggest aiming you plasma gun at
the corners to destroy the primary columns.” Jackson
nodded and aimed his weapon. Then he began to fire, methodically targeting
each corner in turn until Cubrim indicated that the support there had
given way and moving onto the next. The
flaw with this was that it required the high-powered weapon to be fired
repeatedly and did not give much time for it to cool down in between
shots. With a plasma gun this was a recipe for disaster. The science
behind directed plasma weapons belonged to a bygone era and although they
were highly sought after because of their incredible destructive power
they need to be treated with care, so when Jackson failed to allow enough
time between shots for the weapon to cool down something had to
give. The
stormtrooper gave out a scream as the weapon’s cooling system failed
abruptly and the plasma already contained within its pre-fire chamber
burst out over him. “Medicae!”
Torris yelled as Jackson dropped his weapon and staggered backwards with
his arms on fire. Claudius
turned to look at the pillar. With the aide of his enhanced hearing he
could hear it creaking as it strained to remain upright, but with one of
the four primary supports still in place it appeared to be in no danger of
giving way yet. “Savant!”
he yelled at Cubrim, “Will that stay up?” “I
fear so.” Cubrim answered. “What
about grenades?” Rell then asked and Cubrim paused to
think. “Krak
grenades should be powerful enough to sever the final support if at least
three can be triggered in unison.” He then said. Unlike
the more common fragmentation grenades, krak grenades were designed to
focus the power of their explosive charge on a specific location and were
intended for use against armoured vehicles. However, they could also be
used against static targets such as the pillar. Fortunately, krak grenades
were also a part of the standard equipment for all space
marines. “I
will need some tape to secure them to the pillar and some cord to connect
the pins together.” Claudius said as he plucked all three of the krak
grenades he carried from his belt. “Here.”
Dern said, briefly looking away from his patient to toss the marine
captain a reel of tape and some suture. Claudius grabbed them both out of
midair and walked over to the final support. “I
needs a roof!” Gorgoga yelled as his group closed in on their target.
Ahead of them genestealers were climbing down the pillar and it looked as
if they would reach the base of it at about the same time as the orks.
Gorgoga and his four remaining armoured orks all raised their shields
above their heads, forming a thick metal barrier above them, “Get under
‘ere.” He then told Druken. As
the tightly packed group closed with the pillar the first of the
genestealers reached the deck in front of them and the alien hissed as it
lunged at Gorgoga. But the nob was prepared for this and he delivered a
blow from his power claw that killed it instantly. Then he heard several
sudden gunshots as Druken shot the next to appear in its head and
chest. “Get
me right up against dat tower.” Gorgoga ordered and his troops continued
running until there was the sound of their shields striking the pillar.
Gorgoga then swung his power claw in the limited space available to him
and began to rip the pillar apart at the base. Above
the orks there was a ‘clump’ their shield barrier suddenly became much
heavier as a genestealer landed right on top of it. The alien stuck a
clawed arm down between the shields and slashed the throat of a stormboy.
But then the orks holding the shields pushed them together and the
genestealer let out a squeal as it found itself trapped, unable to
withdraw its arm. “Let’s
see ‘ow ya do with just da three arms.” Druken exclaimed as he used his
blade to hack through the alien’s arm and the sounds of pain from the
genestealer intensified as it thrashed about on top of the shields, trying
desperately to free itself. “March
left.” Gorgoga ordered as he found that he needed to get further around
the pillar in order to continue the task of demolishing it and with the
genestealer still on top of them, the orks crammed in beneath the shields
began to shuffle sideways, still emerging for just as long as it took to
fire their weapons upwards. As
Druken finished hacking through the genestealer’s arm it was able to pull
the stump free and it tumbled to the floor. Then as it looked up it found
itself staring down the barrel of a stormboy’s
pistol. “Loadsa
teeth ya got dare.” He said, “Pity dey aint worth nowt.” And then he put
three shots into the genestealer’s head. Drazzok
and the madboys were the last to reach their assigned pillar and they
found several genestealers waiting for them. One of the madboys tried to
look big to deter any attack, standing on the tips of his toes with his
arms raised over his head while he roared at the alien in front of him.
But all that he managed to do was to make himself an easy target and the
genestealer forced a clawed arm right the way through his
chest. “Oi!
Dat was one of my lads!” Thuggrim yelled, swinging the butt of his rifle
at the genestealer with enough force to knock loose several of its teeth.
Then as the alien turned back to face him Thuggrim rammed the muzzle of
his weapon into its mouth, “Eat dis.” He said, before firing a shot that
blew off the back of the alien’s head. Drazzok
ground to a halt at the base of the pillar, looking up to where it
disappeared into the darkness above. “’Ow
is I supposed to bring dis down?” he said. “Ya
will find a way oh great one.” Thuggrim responded, “Ya is da most powerful
of all weirdboys after all.” The
impact of the copper staff did nothing to the reinforced material of the
pillar, but the psychic energy that he had been able to deposit in the
staff was released all in one go, blasting a chunk out of the
pillar. The
madboys cheered. “’Ooray
for da great Drazzok!” Thuggrim yelled, “Destroyer of-“ “Hazug
what’s happening?” Sophie asked as she looked up, trying to find the
source of the groaning. “I
reckon dis place is about to start coming down.” Hazug said. Then he took
a deep breath and as loudly as he could he shouted out a simple order,
“Leg it!” The
warband began to retreat, moving as quickly as they could back to the
passageway they had entered the chamber from. As they ran the groaning
sound became a tearing as the pillar attacked by the apprentice mekboys
became the first one to give way. As it fell it ripped away part of the
ceiling as well as the tendrils clinging to it. The tendrils remained
intact for a few moments however and this had the effect of pulling even
more away from the ceiling before they finally
broke. After
that pillar the one attacked by Gorgoga was the next to fail and once
again a section of ceiling along with a much larger area of tendrils was
pulled down with it. A piece of the ceiling broke free as it fell,
dropping into the path of Drazzok and the madboys as they ran, forcing
them to dive to avoid it. “’Ere!”
Drazzok yelled, “Watch where ya’s droppin’ stuff!” The
pillars targeted by Hazug and Two Heads were the next to fail, collapsing
simultaneously and in addition to tearing away sections of the ceiling
above them they also caused enough damage to drag down the remaining
pillars as well. There were angry screeches from the genestealers still in
the process of clawing their way out of their hibernation pods as they
emerged to find that as well as bringing down the ceiling, the collapse of
the chamber’s supports was ripping the tendrils away from the walls and
sending the genestealers whether awake or not plummeting to the deck
below. “Geddin
quick!” Hazug snapped as his group reached the shelter of the passageway
entrance and he waved not only his own group into it but also the others
as the entire ceiling came down around them. Alive. By
the time the creature at the heart of the nest was fully awake. The first
thing that it noticed was that the hive was silent, no more of its kind
remained. However, while the others had perished when the nest had
collapsed it had been fortunate and its hibernation pod had protected it
enough that it remained uninjured, even if the pod was already ripped open
and its life sustaining fluids now drained away. The
creature tried to reach out and found itself buried under the wreckage of
the ceiling that was now piled up on top of where its pod had come to
rest. But this was a minor inconvenience at most and it pushed the
wreckage out of its path. Hazug
and the rest of the warband looked at what had been the genestealers’
nest. Now it was just a pile of wreckage that had the tendrils that had
covered everything protruding here and there. Hazug
was about to check with Rell when there was a pounding from the centre of
the chamber. “Looks
like dare may be somethin’ in dare.” Hazug said. “Da
wot?” Hazug asked. “A
broodlord.” Rell repeated, “An especially old genestealer can grow to
immense proportions such as this. It will not be easy to
kill.” “Oh
really?” Hazug said, “Well we’ll just ‘ave to see about dat won’t we?” and
he swapped his warscythe for his rifle and raised the weapon to his
shoulder. The
broodlord turned towards the warband, spreading out its arms and letting
loose with a mighty roar. Then it began to stride towards
them. “Kop
dis.” Hazug said and he pulled his rifle’s secondary trigger, launching
the rocket that was still in place beneath it. The explosive round shot
towards the broodlord, trailing fire behind it. But when it struck the
thick shell that protected the broodlord’s chest it merely blasted out a
chunk of flesh and bone that made the giant alien cry out in pain and it
broke into a run. “Scatter!”
Hazug yelled, darting forwards and firing his rifle at the broodlord, “It
can’t follow us all.” The
warband rushed back into the chamber that had held the genestealer nest
and spread out in both directions, firing whatever weapons they had. One
of Batrug’s apprentices ran too close in an effort to get close enough to
use his flamethrower and the broodlord simply scooped him up and hurled
him across the chamber before he could use his
weapon. While
most of the warband aimed for the broodlord’s head, neck and chest in the
hope of inflicting a lucky lethal hit, Jarr instead dropped to his knees
and took aim with his rifle at one of the creatures legs. Then as it came
to brief halt to swat one of Two Heads’ troops he fired a round that blew
out a kneecap. The
broodlord howled as its legs gave way beneath it and it collapsed onto the
rubble. “Move
in!” Hazug shouted, “We got it now!” and he began to advance, firing one
shot after another into the crippled broodlord. The
alien cried out in pain as each bullet, bolt round or laser blast struck
it and as Hazug drew closer it looked around at him just as he was
inserting a fresh magazine into his rifle. “Wotcha
lookin’ at?” Hazug said before he switched his rifle to its ‘turbo-dakka’
mode and put the entire contents of the magazine between the broodlord’s
eyes,” Dare.” He then called out, “Now dat’s it.” However,
as if timed just to prove him wrong there was the sound of heavy
mechanical footsteps from the passageway that the warband had come from
and as they turned to look they saw two columns of ork built dreadnoughts
come marching in. “Wot’s
goin’ on?” one of Two Heads asked as the dreadnoughts split apart and
began to form a wide circle around the warband. “I
dunno.” Hazug replied. Then just as the circle was completed Fullgrup
marched into the chamber, flanked by two more
dreadnoughts. “Tell
all da gits to put down dare shootas.” The Death Skull mek called
out. Hazug
looked at Claudius and nodded. “Lay
down your arms brothers.” Claudius said reluctantly and after a moment’s
pause the marines set down their weapons. “Not
right perhaps,” Claudius replied, “but necessary.” The
stormtroopers, Jarr and Rell also laid down their weapons, but Rhia, Salia
and Sophie kept hold of theirs and looked towards
Hazug. “All
of ‘em!” Fullgrup yelled. “Ya
‘eard ‘im.” Hazug said to his servants, “Put ya weapons down.” Then he
looked at Mayleth, “Ya better do it an’ all.” He added, “Just in
case.” “Of
course my master.” Mayleth replied as she first holstered and sheathed her
weapons and then simply cast aside the belt she carried them all
on. “Dare
ay go.” Hazug told Fullgrup, “So now wot?” “Now
da lot of ya comes with me back to da landa.” Fullgrup said, “Ya’s all
getting’ off dis ‘ulk and goin’ back down to see da boss. ‘E wants a word
with ya Hazug and ‘e aint ‘appy about any of dis.”
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