Chapter 2 of the Waaagh! I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter, I promise there will be more plot development in this one. Anyways I'll be playing the first campaign mission this Sunday. The next chapter will be a narration of the results. Let me know what you think and enjoy the story. Plz Review. Bold=location/emphasis, "Dialogue" Italics=thoughts
Space Station
A day after the space station had been bombarded a scouting team had been deployed to what remained of it. They searched through the destroyed installation, jump packs helping them move between the open areas of the station, an apothecary at the . Eventually the assault unit moved its way into the hangar bay, which had somehow . At the sight of the corpses they moved to their fallen comrades sides, removing the progenitor glands from them while the assault unit began gathering the bodies. Once this was done the Apothecary reached a hand up to his helmet, turning on the communicator
"Apothecary Raizen coming in, can you hear me captain?" The captains voice responded, his voice both strong and tired. "What news have you found Raizen, have you found our battle brothers?" The apothecary responded despondently, this was the part of his job he hated.
"Yes but I'm afraid they were already dead, they went down fighting but it seemed the orks had time to loot their bodies, the terminator armor has been severely damaged. It is unlikely that we will be able to repair them anytime soon."
"And Varius?" Raizen sighed, knowing the captain already knew the answer but needed to hear it. He and the chaplain had been recruited at the same time, they had risen through the ranks at the same time. "Chaplain Varius fell in battle, his armor destroyed beyond chance of repair and his progenitor glands destroyed. Judging from the damage I'd guess he dueled with Bludskar. His crozius and rosarius have also been taken. Should we continue our search or-"
"No." The captains voice called out, a slight bitterness to the edge of his words. "Return to the battle cruiser and make your way to Skados 3. Following the Codex's guidelines we should expect an ork incursion within the next few weeks." The vox channel cut off, Raizen indicating to the others to follow him out. They walked along carrying their brothers bodies, ready to return them to Skados to be buried at the monastery. Skados was one of the Violet Shields recruiting subsectors and up until recently had been one of the most peaceful sectors in the past few centuries.
it is ironic to think that orks of all things made us pay the price for growing too complacent. Still they are just orks, we solidify our strongholds and prepare for them to break upon us like water on stone. If it was the tyranids or an enemy more cunning...well best not to think about it.
Apothecary Raizen was not a proud man, in comparison to his brothers he was one of the more humble and logical thinking of his chapter. But right then and there he made the fatal mistake that so many others had made before him. Never underestimate an ork or they danger they might pose, for it might be the last thing you ever do.
Space Hulk Morks Teef
Within the confines of the space hulk one of the interior ships had been hollowed out and now served as the warlords throne room. The space hulk had hundreds of rooms that served similar purposes but here was the Warlords personal quarters, open only to the strongest and maddest of the boyz. The runtier boyz had to settle either with the spaces allotted to their tribes or in dens controlled by Nugbitz nobs.
The lower quarters of the massive hollow also served as one of the hulks largest cantinas and gambling den, hundreds of boyz feasting, drinking and playing games after such a good scrap. Such games were always violent and often suicidal in nature ranging from squig face eating contests to brawling pits.
For every ork in the room about three Gretchin were running around, taking orders and teeth from the boys while distributing fungus beer and squig pie. Normally a Grot would have to worry about getting ripped off by an ork if it suddenly didn't want to pay but not here. Every operation in this room paid a hefty tax to the warlord so after a few boyz got their heads smashed in for welching the incidents had gone down considerably. Still the grots were careful in how they dealt with their larger cousins, especially considering the whole lot of them was deffskulls, the sneaky gitz.
None of this mattered to the Warlord staring across those seated at a massive onyx table. Even outside of his usual armor he was still a monster, easily weighing over a hundred pounds more than any ork in the room. In his klaw he held a barrel of fungus beer, downing it with great relish. It was times like this that the warlord was best approached, the thought of adding a new piece of armor to his suit always tickled his fancy. Not that the ork would ever use such posh words to describe it.
There were three individuals sitting across from the warlord, each of them with their own specialty. Nugbitz was sitting next to Rustbootz as the former chomped down on his cigar, the sleeveless jacket draped across him the nicest clothing in comparison to the others. Rustbootz was fiddling with the former chaplains Rosarius, turning it to and fro in his hands trying to figure out how to make it work. His body was covered in all sorts of mechanical plugs and machines, the purposes of which was known only to him and the other resident big mek Tintooth.
The final individual sitting at the table did so was bizarre even by orkish standards. Covered in a trench coat and bells the warphead Zappy consistently muttered to himself, his hands constantly ringing themselves together as he worked on. Three minder gretchins stood nearby, hands locked around his chains in case they needed to pull him back to the space hulks madtown.
Originally a follower of the infamous Zogwort, he had found himself traded into Bludskar's retinue by the old bastard in return for a nice shiny wacka. The betrayal had caused Zappy to go a little batty, green flame and lightning turning many of the gathered ork's into paste. Only the Warlord and Zogwort had managed to survive the brunt of the attack, their natural stamina withstanding it long enough for his powers to be drained. Zogwort had offered to kill the ork in light of the outburst but Bludskar shook him off, grabbing the weirdboyz chains and dragging him back to the ship. After a while Zappy eventually grew accustomed to the warband and was now a trusted speaker for Gork and Mork. Still every now and then orks would go missing with strangely confused squigs being left in their wake.
"Alright boyz, let's get dis over wid, how'd we do in the fight? And don't squig sauce it." The three lieutenants looked at each other, neither one of them wanting to break the news to him. "Well boss..." Rustbootz started, hand dropping down near his force field button just in case. "We won da ship battle, we dakka'd da majority of dere ships. In regards to the boyz we only lost about one out of thirty boyz, and dey lost a lot of oomies and marine boyz but..." Bludskar looked at him, lip turning downward at the big mek. "Yeah?" Nugbitz chimed in after taking a swig of beer. "During the scrap dey blasted one of da hangars, da ones wid the wagons and stompa's."
Bludskar lost his composure, jumping to his feet and slamming his hands on the table. "ARE YOU MEANING TO TELL ME, WEZE ABOUT TO GO INTO A WAAAGH! WITHOUT ANY BIG DAKKA? WELL DAT'S JUST GREAT!" Nugbitz and Rustbootz looked at him a little fearfully before something else drew their attention away from him. The outroar combined with the usual violence and energy of the orks on the lower platform had raised the waaagh energy, little bits of the concentrated stuff now flowing out of the Weirdboys eyes while his hand was covering a much larger amount of the stuff from his mouth. Bludskar took one look at the scene before groaning.
" Oh crap, HE'S GONNA BLOW, LEEEG IT!" Nugbitz and Rustbootz didn't need to be told twice, the two of them already running towards the exit of the room, half from the weirdboy and the other half from potentially being steam rolled by the Warlord. The orks below, having heard the warning yell also scrambled to get out, teeth and loot forgotten in the panic to move. Huge amounts of Gretchin were crushed underfoot as their ork brethren fought and clawed for the exit.
No sooner had the three made their way out of the room than Zappy released his head banger wave, the sounds of heads exploding like hot air balloons. As for those outside the immediate blast radius the rest of the orks were knocked to their backs, even Bludskar finding himself forced to one knee. Once the wave passed by the three stumbled to their feet, cautiously sticking their heads back into the room.
What awaited them was a scene of carnage that was often to common in ork society. The majority of the orks and grots had been able to escape the room but for the dozens who hadn't left in time their headless bodies littered the ground, some of them still twitching with little bits of Waaagh energy. Upon the raised platform the Weirdboy was lying backwards, a pure form of ecstasy on his face as he giggled to himself, little bits of blood falling to the floor and on him.
Bludskar groaned, rubbing his head with a free hand, it was times like this he was reminded why many warbosses killed their weirdboyz at a young age. Still he had his uses. "Bootz take that zogged git back to the madtown and get him some new handlers, and make sure he knows not to come up here wid out me say so. Bitz lets go to da bridge, we gotz some planning to do."
Vengance of Terra Battle cruiser
"So the fleet will not be here in time to aid us after all then?" Captain Philius said to a screen in front of him, a man in an imperial navy uniform standing before him. "I apologize captain but the sudden appearance of the warp storm in the Carthage system has caused travel to be too dangerous to attempt. While it shows no sign of going anywhere neither does it show any signs of leaving. We are still making our way over to assist but without the ability to enter the warp we will be weeks away at best." Philius simply nodded, a grim expression on his face.
"Understood admiral, may the emperor watch over you." The admiral responded with a salute, before turning away, the signal cutting off. Philius left the transmission room, making his way to the battle cruisers chapel where his brothers would be waiting. As he walked through the halls many of the cruiser he passed by the refuges of the space station, many of them scrambling to get out of his way or invoke a blessing on him from the emperor. For himself he didn't notice, while he admired the bravery of those who fought alongside with his brothers they were of little consequence at the moment.
Entering the chapter four scores of eyes fell on the captain, each of them nodding their heads to the man as he ascended the podium at the front. He took a moment as he always did, then began speaking to them, the halls silent save for his words that resonated across the air
"Brothers take heed of my words, our company faces a dark hour. The orkish horde of Warlord Bludskar descends upon the subsector, and we have little time to prepare. I will not give you false promises, a warp storm has arrived in the sector and delays the arrival of the imperial guard. While they are on their way we cannot expect them to arrive anytime soon, it will be up to us to hold the line with what planetary forces we have available to us."
Philius walked to the side of the raised dais, hands folded behind his arms. "I know your hearts our heavy at the loss of our brothers, and that the terror and bloodshed the spread to our enemy does little to lift the pain in our souls. But we are Violet Shields, since the fall of the traitor Horus we have held the line in the southern part of our glorious empire, from the treacherous powers of chaos to the cunning brutality of the Eldar all have fallen to our might, the orks shall not find us wanting in that measure."
The captain returned to the podium, his hands grasping the sides of it. "We are the angels of death, terror which descends on the Imperium's foes like tsunami on the land, crushing all who stand against us and against the emperor. WHEN THE TIME COMES FOR OUR ENEMIES TO TEST THE STRENGTH OF THE EMPEROR'S SHIELD-?"
The space Marines answered him as one, all rising to their feet in one motion. "THEY SHALL NOT FIND US WANTING, AND TREMBLE IN TERROR AT THE MIGHT OF HIS GUARD!" Captain Philius lowered his head, hands raising before him clasped together. "Now brothers let us pray to the Omnissiah, that he may take up our fallen brothers to join him at his side, to beseech him for the sacrifice they made in his name. Let it be so by the emperor's grace."
"And by the emperors grace so shall it be." The space marines said as one, united as they always were and would be. With the words finished the marines left the chapter, off to attend to their different duties. Thus it was that none saw the equal looks of pride and despair in their captains eye, proud of their devotion but sad at knowing most of them would not survive the coming storm.
Space Hulk
Bludskar and Nugbitz both entered the bridge of the ship, only s few meks manning it as opposed to the last battle. Walking to the middle table Nugbitz slapped a hand on the power button, a holographic image of the Skados system rising in front of them, with a bit of static rippling here and there.
"Alright boss, da system were entering has four main planets. We were going to attack dis planet ere, but we aint got the dakka to take the hives." Bludskar began feeling that rage push up again, but the incident with zappy taught him some restraint. For the next hour or so. "Right, so which of da other three planet's should we stomp to get some loot for da wagons for this waaaagh?"
Nugbitz quickly pressed the button, pulling up the information for the other three planets. "Sez ere da Skados 1 is an agrik- uh agricolt- raaagh it's a farming planet. We won't get what we need dere. Da next closest one is some deffworld, dose planets got some tough oomies on em. I'ze been here before, dere's actually some boyz on that planet we could get to join the waaagh. Still I doubt we'll get much loot there."
Bludskar pointed at the remaining planet, power klaw passing through the holographic image. "What about dis planet, does it have what we need?" Nugbitz read through the screen before looking up at the warlord, a slight frown on his face. "According to dis, the planet's got a lot a metal on it, more than what we need for the stompa's and wagons. However da oomies haven't squatted on it for some reason, we'd have to mine it ourselves."
"Oooh, but dat could take us dayz to get all the metal we need! Are you sure dat's the only way?" Nugbitz shook his head, taking a puff from his cigar. "Fraid so boss, we aint got any spare bitz lying around and all our kommando boyz got zogged on the station so we won't be able to be sneaky. Dis is the only way." Bludskar's head dropped down just a bit, similar to how a child was told they'd have to eat all their vegetables before they got dessert.
"Alright, da boyz aint gonna like it but I guess we aint got a choice. Set course for...uhhh..." Nugbitz answered him, having already switched off the monitor. "Skados 4." Bludskar nodded, glaring at his lieutenant sharply. "I knew it I was just taking me time. Get us to that planet, but send some kroozers and roks to keep dem oomies occupied and get da local boyz into the scrap. Da sooner we get our big dakka the sooner I'll get me a new piece of armor." With that he stomped out of the bridge, leaving the captain to take control of the space hulk, issuing orders to the surrounding fleet.
Skados 4
The report Nugbitz had read was not entirely accurate, Skados 4 had originally been uninhabitable due to the position of the planet. it took a century of terra forming to make the planet inhabitable and only recently had a small colony of humans arrived to set up the beginnings of what would be a mining facility. For months the drilling had gone unimpeded but within the last month the colony had gone silent. PDF forces were set to deploy on the planet to investigate the silence,but with the sudden appearance of the orks they were forced to change course to engage them.
Had the PDF forces arrived on the planet they would have come to find the ten thousand colonists missing, many of their machines left about in haphazard ways while a strange set of scratches were seen on the ground. The only signs that life had ever been on the planet were a few discarded shells and the odd stain of blood here and there.
While the surface of the planet itself was dead and barren, grey rocks and mountains jutting from the land from past seismic activities, underneath the planet protocols and essential repairs were being made, while generators tens of millions of years old began to power up. Small robotic beetles floated through the air, welding metal and wires back in place before moving on to another assigned task. Finally as one of the generators finally reached its full power output a blast of energy burst through the area, the first of the robotic skeletons eyes burning bright green.
The planet itself may have seemed dead, but the tomb world residing under it was a different matter altogether.
Ah Chapter two is done, the next chapter will be a dramatization of the first campaign mission me and my buddy played today. You'll have to read it to find out the outcome. Thanks for reading and see you at the next update.
