A/N: I do not own Warhammer 40k it belongs to Games Workshop. Only Original characters belong to me.
Chapter 1: Ork Hunting
In route to Bilani Agriworld in the Malfian Sub-Sector
"Captain, the Ork Freebooters are turning back around. The convoy has reached the edge of the gravity well and has warped out."
I sighed. The fact that I could hear a statement like that and not bat an eye is proof at how messed up my life has become. A year ago I'd never heard of an Ork outside of a fantasy novel. Hell a year ago I had never even dreamed of being a Captain of a space ship let alone one that houses almost sixty-five thousand people.
"Good. Give me a status report on the rest of the fleet." I ordered.
"Captain, The Might of the Emperor and the remaining Firestorm frigates are breaking formation. They're turning around and are heading for the edge of the start's gravity well." My Augur Array Chief shouted.
"What!?" I growled. "Get me Admiral Hook on the Vox now!"
I sat in my captain's chair and waited patiently for my crew to do as I ordered. I wasn't long before the screen in front of me snapped to life. The image of a large man came into view. He wasn't large in the way I'd come to expect in this cruel universe. He was a fat man, beet faced and balding. The 'Lord' Admiral Hook had a thick beard that did little to hide how pudgy his cheeks were.
"Admiral would you mind telling me what in the Emperor's name is going on. We received no order to withdraw from the area."
"That's because I never gave your ship orders to withdraw, Captain. Your ship was damaged in the opening of the engagement correct?" He asked.
"Yes sir. My magos' tell me that our warp generator is damaged but easily repairable. We should be fit for warp travel in a few hours." I responded.
"Exactly. In few hours we could have a dozen Ork ships in the area. I will not risk my fleet for one ship Captain. I am ordering you to form a rear guard and protect the fleet as we make way for edge of the gravity well where-by we will return to Port Wrath." He grinned. I wanted to reach through the cogitator screen and punch the Lord Admiral in the face.
The Admiral's fleet consisted of two Dauntless Light cruisers, and a pair of Firestorm frigates. Properly utilized the Admiral's fleet composition could take on an Ork fleet nearly twice the size of what we faced here. But with him taking the Firestorms with him my ship will have very little chance against the Ork Freebooters.
Given the current situation the Admiral's orders were little more than a death sentence. Unfortunately given the Admiral's rank and Disposition with-in the Sector defense fleet. There was nothing I could do.
"Understood Admiral." I growled. "I'll see you back at Port Wrath."
"If the Emperor wills, Captain." The fat Admiral smirked.
With a snap the screen shut off and the Admiral disconnected from the Vox channel.
"Danm it!" Surprisingly the curse didn't come from me. I turned my head and looked at my Bridge Commissar and raised an eyebrow. Commissar Larza, despite her small stature, was force of nature when angered. Luckily I have never given her reason to turn that anger against me, mostly because I'd never survive if I did. Given the look she had in her eye's I wouldn't be surprised if she somehow managed to reach into blank screen strangle the good Lord Admiral in his chair.
"If we had even one Firestorm frigate with us we could take on those danmable Orks, but the Lord Admiral flees like a coward, and leaves us to die!" She growled.
I smirked, "I wouldn't count us out of this fight just yet Commissar. I don't know about you but I don't intend to let sixty-five thousands of the Emperor's finest navy men die without a fight. I meant what I said. We will see the Lord Admiral again." I gave her a smile "And when we do you can let your displeasure known to him in person." I watched as the grin on Commissar Larza's face turn absolutely blood thirsty. May the Emperor have mercy on the Lord Admiral's soul, because Larza certainly wouldn't.
"Do you have a plan, Captain?" she asked.
"That depends." I looked over to my Master Gunner, "Gunz, how stand the weapons?"
"The macro cannons on the port side are good to go, but our starboard flank got hit bad Captain." His name was Leon and at sixty years old he was an old hand at space combat.
"What about the forward prow lance? If we are to have any hope of winning this fight we're going to need that weapon system. I'd prefer to have both banks of macro cannons but we'll make do." I said.
"The forward lance is fully operational." He said.
"Good. Augur Sensor's find me a dust cloud to hide in the largest you can find. Helmsman, make your heading to the dust cloud best possible speed but keep the emergency thrusters in reserve. We're going to need them."
"Aye Captain!" I heard the engines turn on and watched as the stars started spinning lazily outside the massive gothic windows that make up my bridge.
I turned back to the master gunner, "I want an alternating load on our macro cannon shells. I want the first set of rounds to be bursting fragmentation rounds followed by armor piercing. Have the gun crews follow that pattern for the entire engagement, and start charging the prow lance. I want it ready to fire on my order, and get your best crew on the lance. We're going to have to make every shot count on the lance."
The Master Gunner snapped off a salute and nodded, "With your permission I'd like to head to the forward lance myself."
I nodded, "Slave your cogitator to my station, Gunz." I said, using my nickname for old crewman. "I'll give your crews their orders from here. Just make sure they understand High fragmentation then armor piercing."
"It will be done Captain." He said.
I tuned to the Master at Arms, "I want every Guardsmen on this ship armed and stationed at every major system on this ship. I want special consideration for the Warp generator. We can't afford to take any more damage there. I also want you to reinforce the void shield generator. If we lose the generator. . . Well I don't think I need to tell you what will happen."
"Yes my Lord." The master at Arms turned to station and started barking orders into his private Vox channel.
Finally I turned back to Commissar Larza, "Commissar I need you to get your personal squad up here to the bridge and have them guard the Bridge."
She didn't say anything, she gave me a brief salute and took off.
I finally sat back down in my chair. When I first came on board and took Command I hatted this chair. Practically a throne made of solid gold. With no cushions. The damn thing is bloody uncomfortable, but I soon realized that as Captain it was my responsibility to set an example for the crew, so I dredged up every ounce of will power I had and did my best to relax.
"Helmsman, what's our ETA to the dust cloud?" I asked calmly despite the fact that my nerves were on fire.
"Twenty minutes Captain."
I nodded in satisfaction, "And the Orks? Are the pursuing us?"
"Yes Captain. They should enter the dust cloud twelve minutes behind us." The crewman answered.
"And if they use their emergency boosters?" I asked.
"Tactical Cogitators predict that they'll enter the dust cloud four minutes after us if they use their boosters."
"Good. Helmsmen as soon as you enter the dust cloud I want the ship to go silent. Then raise the bow angle to forty five degrees and get us as high as you can in the cloud without letting the Orks know where we are."
"Aye Captain."
The minuets ticked by and I did my best to keep my cool. I pulled up the small cogitator screen on the arm rest of my chair and pulled up a small playlist. When I first came to this millennium one of the few things I had on me was my cell phone. It was loaded with personal information. Luckily I was able to pull the information off of it and download it to my personal data slate. Soon Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings was piped in through speakers on the bridge. "Alert me when we reach the dust cloud or if anything changes in the next few minutes." My hope was that if my crew saw me as relaxed and confidant then they would be too.
"Captain."
I opened my eyes looked at my communications officer. "Yes, Lieutenant."
"The Orks are hailing us." The young officer said.
I raised an eyebrow and looked at Commissar Larza. At her nod I turned back to the main screen. "By all means, let's see what the green skins have to say before we blow them to emperor knows where." My bridge crew chucked and I couldn't help but smile. Despite our situation at least moral was high.
"You punnie human! You let ma loot get away! I'm gonna crump ya good, ya git!" The Ork Captain was a typical specimen of his species. Besides the aforementioned green skin, he had large yellow teeth, red eyes, and an eyepatch of all things. The most distinguished feature though was a massive tricorn hat upon his head.
"That," I began slowly, "is the ugliest hat I've ever seen. Did you make it yourself?"
"WHAAAA!?" The Ork yelled.
"I mean that thing looks like something you'd pick up out of garbage. Wouldn't you say Larza?"
"The garbage is too good for that thing. It deserves to be blasted into star." The Commissar said with a frown.
A chorus of agreement was heard from my bridge crew, and I couldn't help but smile. Some call me an unconventional Captain, others call me down right heretical. Commissar Larza was a part of the later until she got to know me, now she's a part of the former.
"YA LOWSY GIT! YA INSULT MA HAT NOW I'm REALLY GONNA CRUMP YA!" He yelled so loud that a fleck of spit landed on the lens of the camera in front of him.
"You?" I sneered. "You're week and small. You couldn't crump a Gretchin if your life depended on it. I have nothing to say to such a small and week Ork." I made a sweeping motion with my hand the the Ork was cut off mid rant.
"Well that was fun." I said with a grin. A series of chuckles sounded across the bridge from my crew.
"Captain the Orks have lit off their emergency boosters. They're closing distance." My augur sensor chief called out.
"Good." I said leaning back. "An angry Ork is a stupid Ork. This should be easier than I though." I said. I turned off my music and checked the status off my ships systems. "Gunz, is the prow lance ready?" I asked.
"Yes Captain. As soon as you declare a target we'll bring down the wrath of the Emperor on them." He called.
"Good. When I give the order I want you to target the aft section of the Ork ship. If you can bring down their void shields our macro cannons will have a better chance of penetrating. My plan hinges on your accuracy Gunz."
"I will not fail you Captain." The old crewman vowed.
"There's a case of ale in it for you and your crew if you don't Gunz!" I challenged. The roars of the crew were deafening over the Vox.
"Captain, we're entering the dust cloud. I am raising the bow angle forty-five degrees. We are running silent." My helmsmen said.
"Good." I gave a blood thirsty grin. "Let's hunt some Ork."