'So, dat runty umie Metzger wontz uz ta get sumfing o iz bak, ey?' spoke the deep, guttural and brutish voice of Freebooter Kaptain Bashnag Starkilla in Imperial Gothic over the holo-screen who was the only one among the gathering who had more than one ship and had in fact brought eight, heavily armed ork cruisers.
'Indeed and it has been claimed by some renegade Chapter of Space Marines who call themselves the Aquila Veritas' confirmed Naranair as he still stood upon the Command Bridge of the Chillwind.
'These… Astartes are known to us' came the repulsive, gurgling voice of hooded figure known as the Intendant Intemperance, the "secret" leader of a Privateer ship, The Grey Wyrm which was employed by the Calixis-based Amaranthine Syndicate. 'A number of ships belonging to the Syndicate have been boarded by these Space Marines and much profits have been lost' continued vile creature whose body would look like a mass of writhing worms, were it not for the Shroud Armour which it wore.
'The incursions of these Astartes rapscallions have been most detrimental to my own operations' commented the calm, professional voice of the red haired human female, Captain Lucretia Tarneth of the Void Duchess.
'Powerful are these bringers of truth for still they bear the mark of the Corpse Lord' cryptically rasped the muffled voice of Sora-Vell, the masked leader of the Pale Throng warband which had joined the gathering aboard the Retribution of Tranch.
'Bah! Dem Marine boyz aint so tuff' interjected Bashnag with derision and he boasted 'Iz kill plenty of dem big umiez in me time!'
'Ah but one can never truly tell when it comes to the Astartes' coolly added the sultry shape shifter, Countess Elizabeth von Karsen who was aboard the Vashanesh 'they have a tendency to be unusually fortunate at times'.
'And that is why I have gathered you all here, to ensure that these Space Marines meet with overwhelming force' interjected Naranair who immediately claimed the attentions of his allies. 'I have deemed the payment for this contract to be sufficient and I assume that since you are all here, you all consider the rewards of this task worthy of your time as well.'
'The Syndicate considers the payment adequate and will appreciate the removal of these Astartes' gurgled Intendant Intemperance.
'If we are all in agreement with this contract then I shall pledge my crew to this endeavor' said Captain Tarneth.
'Iz definitely in' announced Kaptain Starkilla 'me boyz and I just ad a good scrap wiv em Rak'gol krittaz, Space Marinez is gunna be a gud unz too!'
'The Throng will join for the Thrones are sorely needed' whispered Sora-Vehl.
'And my army will stand with you all!' eagerly said Lady von Karsen who gave a slight smile while exposing her sharp fangs.
'Most excellent' replied Naranair with with satsifaction. 'Metzger's pet psykers have already predicted when the next raid shall be so we should be off to greet these Space Marines in kind.'
Placing his hands upon the terminal next to him, the Dark Eldar Captain then began to press several buttons, which would transmit the coordinates given to him by the Rogue Trader. After a moment, the other leaders confirmed having received the messages and soon every ship within the pirate fleet were turning about to face the right direction. Each of the ships then began activating their Warp Engines and soon several screaming portals into the Immaterium were opened.
'Race ya gitz to da otha side!' roared Kaptain Starkilla who then cut the communications feed before the others did as well.
As the Chillwind entered the Warp again, Naranair Wrathbringer could not help but smile in anticipation for this next mission.
Six terran weeks later…
'Launch all Transports' commanded Brother Captain Asher Mordent of the Aquila Veritas Fourth Company.
'Launching transports' complied the calm voice a servitor slaved to a terminal and the cybernetic thrall hit a large red button which gave the signal.
From the hangars of the Strike Cruiser Invictus, several Caestus Assault Rams and Thunderhawks were launched into the cold void of space where their prey awaited them. From the viewport of the Invictus's Command Bridge, the Brother Captain saw the damaged cargo ship which bore on its hull the insignia of the Departmento Munitorum. Explosions of fire blossomed across the void between the Strike Cruiser and the poorly and defended cargo ship which launched flights of fighter craft which were outmatched in terms of armaments and skill by those of the Aquila Veritas.
The Brother Captain had given the crew of the cargo ship a chance to surrender whatever it was they were carrying along with every press-gang slave aboard and in return, they would be left with enough food and fuel to make it back to the nearest start port. In response, the cargo ship captain had bravely yet futilely and rather foolishly, refused the terms of the Brother Captain, claiming that the goods they were delivering were desperately needed by Imperial Guard forces near the Cadian Sector. It was a difficult choice for the Brother Captain but he knew that there were people in his Chapter and those who depended on them to make a good haul.
The battle in space was both short and one sided in favor of the Aquila Veritas and after a few minutes, Vox reports began coming in that the Caestus Assault Rams which transported Astartes and Thunder Hawks which carried Auxiliary troops had successfully boarded the cargo ship. That was it, thought the Brother Captain who leaned back on his Command Throne for he doubted that mere armsmen would be able to stand up to the might of an Astartes. As loyal as he was to his Chapter and to the Truth which they had discovered, it weighed heavily upon his heart that he who once led campaigns across the galaxy against the alien, the mutant and the heretic, he who has slain daemons and monstrous horrors, was now reduced to fighting the security forces aboard merchant ships.
It had been a trying time for the Brother Captain who knew that he was not alone in his feelings for there were many within the Chapter who secretly harbored doubts about their change in allegiance. He then reminded himself of the recordings they had seen, of the message which the Emperor had left for humanity. It was his duty as a Space Marine to uphold what the Emperor himself had believed in and to reveal to the rest of mankind the Truth.
He brooded upon these thoughts for several minutes while only half heartedly listening to the vox reports from inside the cargo ship as the assault teams quickly made progress. His thoughts would later be interrupted as he heard the voice of one of the Chapter Serfs calling his name in an alarmed tone and the Brother Captain quickly turned his attention to the man who operated one of the consoles.
'What is it?' asked the Brother Captain who then began to have an itch on his palms beneath his gauntlets.
'Multiple warp-space signatures my lord!' exclaimed the Serf.
'It's a trap!' roared the Brother Captain who quickly shot up from his throne while thinking it was an Imperial force and he commanded 'activate the scanners and identify what we are up against!'
'Aye, aye sir!' replied another Serf who then began directing power to the Strike Cruisers scanning equipment.
A holo-screen attached to several cables and wires descended from the ceiling of the Command Bridge and it displayed the status of the Invictus which was unharmed from the brief skirmish thanks in small part to its void shields. As the scanners worked their tech-magic, it then revealed something which caused the Brother Captain's eyes to widen in surprise. Several ships highlighted in red appeared in real space, far behind the Invictus and after a moment, they began picking up speed towards the Strike Cruiser.
The scanners then did another sweep which only took a second to reveal what kind of ships they were facing and soon the red ships on the holo-screen were transformed to display the distinctly crude and ramshackle profiles of greenskin space-crafts. Eight large Ork Cruisers were now accelerating to attack speed and behind them were five other ships which were not firing upon nor were being attacked by the aliens and as such, must be in league with the barbarous xenos or were operated by them. Regardless, he knew that there would be no negotiating with the beasts for the Ork only understood strength and violence and they would no doubt attack the Invictus.
A critical moment passed for the Brother Captain as he considered his options for the sheer number of enemy ships made fighting in space to be highly inadvisable. He could have the Invictus stay and try to hold off the attack until the Marines and Auxiliary forces which were still inside the cargo ship had time to get back to the Thunderhawks and Caestus Assault Boats. He also had the option of having the Strike Cruiser move out and prepare for a Warp Jump but that would mean abandoning half a company to the aliens with no hope for escape.
As a Space Marine, his choice was already made and he ordered for the Invictus to turn about and bring its guns to bear upon the alien ships. Although he and his Brothers had abandoned the Imperium, they could never abandon one another for in this dark galaxy, only by being united do they stand a chance of survival. Sending word to the boarding teams to make their way back to their dropships, Captain Asher Mordent was prepared to give his life so that those under him would have a chance to make it back to the Strike Cruiser.
'Raise high da Jolly Ork!' commanded Kaptain Bashnag as he pumped his metallic cybork hand to the air and in response the Orks of his crew gave out a loud "WAAAAGGGHHH!"
At the Squigeon's nest of his ship Da Wurld Krumpa, a large square blackened sheet of thin metal which was magnetically attached to a sturdy pole above da Kommand Bridge. Not far from behind the Kaptain's throne, a group of gretchin pushed a series of metal spokes which connected to the pole above and by their efforts (with a bit of assistance from a Runthurd with a grot-prod), the black sheet metal which had the ork skull and crossbones symbol of the Jolly Ork was raised high and the other ships repeated the action.
'Right boyz! Time ta earn our keep!' shouted the Freetbooter Kaptain as the ships of his fleet accelerated with all guns being powered up. 'Activate da shields!' commanded the Kaptain and a thrum of energy was heard as each ship in his fleet was soon covered in an electrical bubble.
Just in time thought the Kaptain as the ship of the Marine Boyz turned its broadside to them and it began to open fire with a volley of lasers, missiles and plasma bolts. In response, the Ork ships fired back with torpedoes and kannonz which fired either solid exploding dakka or zzapas which swam through the void of space while the ships continued their collision course. Da Wurld Krumpa rocked under the barrage of umie fire but the shields still held and as thee ships drew ever closer, the Kaptain began to feel the rise of his bloodlust.
'Get ready ta board maytiz!' bellowed the Kaptain who sucked in his breath and shouted a battle cry that was followed by his fellow greenskins.
WAAAAGGGHHH!
Keeping a fair distance from the Ork ships which were engaging the Astartes Strike Cruiser, the ships of the Chillwind, the Void Duchess, the Vashanesh, the Retribution of Tranch and the Grey Wyrm, were positioning themselves to flank the Astartes ship and try to cut off any chance of escape. Of the five non-ork ships, the Retribution was the smallest weakest and most ramshackle for it belonged to a class of ships most often associated with pirate wolf packs and its crew was hardly the most skilled of mechanics. This was followed by the Grey Wyrm which was a much larger, better armed, armoured and better maintained vessel for the Amaranthine Syndicate were a powerful and wealthy group within the Calixis Sector.
The Vashanesh was comparable in size to the Grey Wyrm but was significantly less well maintained with many sections of the ships having no life support, which would not really bother most of its "crew". Then came the Chillwind which from what Naranair knew, had once been a type of Mon'keigh ship designated as a "Tempest". Of course, the ship had been heavily modified by the loathsome little Stryxis even before the Dark Eldar Captain had found it so classifying it may be a bit harder and from what he knew of their detestable language, they had called it a Xebec.
Finally, this left the Void Duchess which was the largest and most heavily armed and armoured of the non-ork ships. Its size was comparable to the ships often used by the Imperium's Navy but its true strength lay within the various pieces of alien technology which had been incorporated into the vessel. The Void Duchess was a type of ship which many human Rogue Traders would consider highly prestigious to have, no doubt that it was gift from Captain Lucretia's benefactors, the Crescent Wings Corsairs, a group of mostly Craftworlders which Naranair was rather intimately familiar with.
The five ships were able to avoid the initial exchange of fire from the Astartes Strike Cruiser towards the Ork ships and as they circled around them, they knew that surrounding the Space Marine vessel would become unnecessary for the greenskins would accomplish it themselves. There was the strong possibility of course that the brutish greenskins could get carried away with the fighting and would end up destroying the very vessel which they needed to capture so that they could find out wherever it was that these renegade Space Marines were hiding. Unwilling to allow this contract to become a failure because the greenskins could not control themselves, Naranair ordered for the Chillwind to engage.
'Have my Heavy Wargear fetched and the Draichs prepared for battle' commanded the Dark Eldar Captain who rose from his command throne and his thralls obeyed.
The cargo ship trembled as the battle out in space continued and the boarding teams rushed back to their dropships and assault boats in an orderly manner. The Astartes and their mortal auxiliaries made sure that one was left behind and they had even taken as many members of the ships crew as they could for despite having just been trying to kill each other, their common humanity was what united them when word of alien raiders came. Among those who had boarded was Brother Jaime Vellock whose power armour and chainsword was stained with human blood and he left his head bare so that those men around him could recognize the Space Marine.
'We are almost there men, keep going!' shouted Vellock as they took a turn to left which would lead to one of the hangars where the Thunderhawks had landed.
Desperation lent them speed for they had already been informed that several Ork ships were surrounding the Invictus and cargo ship with each one sending out several assault ships and dropships of their own. The cargo ship suddenly rocked again as something very large struck against the hull and there was the sound of metal screeching. The ship was now being boarded he and he knew full well that if they did not get out as quickly as possible, the orks would likely overwhelm them.
Ordering the men around him to double-time it, they began sprinting even faster until finally they made it to the hangar but when they got there, the Space Marine's heart sank. Crude ork dropships flew into the hangar with several crashing into the Thunderhawks from behind and causing them to be violently pushed forward or sent flying.
'Watch out!' roared one of the auxiliaries as men desperately scrambled to get away from the errant pieces which ended up crushing more than a few auxiliaries and crewmen, reducing them to red paste.
Another series of several crashes and the screeches of metal was heard as the dropship parts struck against the walls and Brother Vellock was forced to leap to his right to avoid being hit by a spinning piece of a Thunderhawk wing. He hit the floor with a loud thud as his power armour along with his own enhanced physique, gave him a great deal of weight and as he quickly recovered he began to smell that familiar stench of sweat, dung and xeno spores. Looking to where the alien dropships had landed, each of the vessels began to disgorge large mobs of greenskins which either came in the larger or smaller varieties of ork.
'Regroup men! Regroup!' shouted the Space Marine while the auxiliaries around him were still recovering from evading the ship parts but his fellow Astartes were quick to form up into a squadron with each member revving his chainsword or activating a power weapon.
'For the Emperor!' roared Tactical Brother Tancred who raised a glowing power sword to the air and fired a trio of bolter rounds which felled three orks. Bringing up his own bolt pistol, Jaime Vellock and the other Space Marines opened fire upon the aliens with bolter and plasma pistols before charging towards the greenskins.
Each of the Marines now knew that there was no escape and that all they could do was to make sure that the aliens pay dearly for every Astartes life that would be lost this day.
Back within the personal quarters of the Dark Eldar Captain, Naranair who was now dressed in a skin-tight body-suit, extended his arms widely to the sides and felt the weight of the armoured plates which were clasped around his form. Each piece of the armoured set was primarily the colour of shining black iron with trims of burnished gold and like many other suits created by his people, it was adorned with sharp spikes of polished grey. Each piece of the armoured set was carried by the hands of a female member of his warband who wore simple gauntlets of light metal for protection.
The Dark Eldar Captain's armour was modified from the older variants of Incubi Warsuits with this one in particular having a Phantasm Grenade Launcher attached to the back. Upon the gauntlets of his armour were two modified wrist-mounted Terrorfex Grenade Launchers with one on each limb and were also capable of firing either Haywire or Plasma Grenades for the usual Xenospam Grenades were rather hard to come by in recent passes, a shame really. Finally then came the white-skull masked Tormenter Helmet with red eye-lenses and decorated with finely painted crimson serpents, like the rest of his armour, this one was primarily modified by having the head mounted Splinter Pistol replaced with a Blaster Pistol.
'You should allow us to accompany you my lord' spoke the familiar voice of the human, Vandal Saaris, leader of the Regulators who attentively stood nearby with a Hotshot Laser Gun in his hands.
'Your concern is noted but unnecessary' calmly replied Naranair as one of the female attendants placed the Tormenter Helmet over his head and after a soft click, he saw the visors of the helmet light up and sharp Druhir runes appeared at the bottom, signifying that that neural interface had properly booted up.
'But my lord, we have no intel on what you may find on that Strike Cruiser' insisted the human who was likely more concerned about the anarchy that would likely break out if the Captain were to somehow end up meeting an unfortunate accident.
'May I remind you that those ships are now filled with Space Marines and raging greenskins who are battling one another to the death?' answered Naranair in a non-chalant manner and there was a moment of silence which passed as the man understood the captain's meaning for when Orks had their blood up, it was difficult to stop them from fighting without having to resort to extreme violence.
Of course Naranair saw nothing wrong with killing greenskins and rather, he enjoyed having them as a foe but in their current situation, it would simply be wasteful to engage in pointless combat. One of the female mercenaries, Jacqui then came up to him with an exquisite crystalline amulet held in her hands. Gently taking the piece of jewelry which was in actuality, a Shadowfield generator, Naranair placed it around his neck but left it inactive for now.
The female retainer gave him a pouting look, like a child who had been denied a chance to engage in some form of mischief and Naranair gave an amused grin from underneath his skull masked helmet. He then placed gauntleted hand upon her dyed hair and said 'I promise that I will bring back something for you and your friends to play with'.
The human female then gave him a smile and the Captain turned away from her to see the weapons which had been brought to him. Several guns placed upon simple anti-gravity carts were arrayed around him in a crescent pattern. Like many Dark Eldar of his social strata, Naranair preferred to engage his enemies not with blades but with overwhelming firepower.
The choices were many for Naranair owned at least one of every ranged weapon commonly used by Kabalite infantry and he even owned a few which were more suited in the hands of an Archon. Considering that he was going up against Astartes, their servants and possibly rampaging Orks, he was quick to pick up the humble Splinter Cannon. Anti-gravity pods placed at the bottom of the weapon allowed it be carried quite easily and the Captain grabbed as series of crystallized poison shards which contained a powerful paralytic which also caused intense agony.
From his arsenal, he also took a bandolier of various grenades; two pyramid-shaped Webway portal devices and last but not least, a Soul-Trap which came in the form of a crystalline orb. As he finished arming himself for battle, he heard the doors to his chamber open and a figure in red robes walked into his personal chambers with steps which were difficult to hear, even for one with heightened senses such as he.
'Magos Najeda' nodded Naranair with a hint of familiarity and even a bit of respect towards the renegade Tech Priestess Genator who had served him long before his acquisition of this warband and was now the chief medical officer of the ship and was also involved in… "other projects".
'My lord Wrathbringer' bowed the Magos who had this deep, husky voice which the Dark Eldar Captain found… intriguing. 'The Draichs have been prepared, at your request and they await your command.'
'Most excellent and have the Drug Inductors been properly stocked?' replied Naranair who already knew what the answer would be but was always pleased by the efficiency of this particular thrall.
'Yes my lord' obeyed Najeda who gestured toward a quintet of hulking figures that stood ready 'at your command, they can have cocktails of Onslaught, Reflex and Psychon flowing within their veins in a moments notice'.
Each of the five figures were massive, muscular and misshapen things which were even bigger and broader than the Ogryn sub-breed of humanity. Every one of the things had once been a human captive, taken from their battles close to the Screaming Vortex and now their bodies which had once borne many Chaotic mutations were further swollen by macrosteroids, growth elixirs and other alchemical agents which the Magos had learned from long years of study under the Haemonculus of Naranair's Kabal. All of the Draichs had multiple muscular arms which ended in meaty fists that grasped heavy cleavers, hook, sickles, axes, maces and other deadly close combat implements while their slack jawed faces were concealed behind sinister black iron helmets and the rest of their bodies were protected by metal plates which hooked into their flesh like the armour of common Kaballite warriors.
Pulling up one of the Webway devices and giving it a mental command, it was time for him to make his move…
Klaxons blared across the corridors of the Invictus as hordes of greenskins flooded its interior. The Chapter Serfs who had been stationed aboard the Strike Cruiser were quick to respond by making their way to the nearest store rooms and grabbing whatever guns they could find. Many were armed with lasguns, autoguns and shotguns but a few were able to get heavier weapons such as flamers and grenade launchers.
As valiantly as the Serfs who had support from the servitors and a few auxillaries fought, they were unable to withstand the hordes of alien pirates without assistance from the Space Marines who mostly were still aboard the cargo ship and scattered about while fighting their own desperate battles. The only Astartes who was aboard the Invictus was Brother Captain Mordent who took up a double-bladed Power Axe and a Plasma Pistol. He strode through the metal corridor in a purposeful manner which gave him an air of authority and strength which in turn, raised the moral of the Serfs accompanying him.
Despite the calm, outward appearance of the Brother Captain, inside he felt a great deal of turmoil due to the current situation. He had always expected that the Imperium would eventually send the Imperial Navy, the Inquisition or another Chapter to deal with their secession. Yet this was a different and all together a more sobering fate, to be in the middle of raiding a civilian ship and then ambushed by some random Ork fleet, of all the foul xenos in this galaxy, some rabble of greenskins it seemed would finally be the death of him.
Tightly gripping the handles of his axe and pistol, he stopped and waited for a moment to allow a pair of thick metal double doors to slide open and he heard a loud explosion from across his position. There was another corridor ahead of the Brother Captain which at the end was covered by a slight fog of black smoke. From that fog, several orks began sprinting through the blasted doorway with crude guns firing and primitive blades held high.
Thumbing the activation key of his Power Axe, it began to coruscate with a bright blue energy field and he lifted his pistol towards the alien horde. Pressing onto the firing trigger and leaving his finger there so that the weapon could charge up he then quietly spoke with grim acceptance in his voice. 'For the Emperor'.
A geat bolt of plasma was fired from the barrel of the pistol and it slammed into the face of the lead ork among the horde. The shot reduced the head of the alien into ashes before exploding into a small star which vaporized the rest of those greenskins who had been at the front of the horde. The rest of course had charged on with bloodlust driving them on and the Brother Captain was prepared to meet them, face to face.
A bright flash of orange light momentarily blinded Kaptain Starkilla and his honour guard as they re-entered the material universe. Having just used a teleporter device which had been installed into Da Wurld Krumpa, he had as always; found the journey to be more than a bit disorienting. Already, he could hear the sound of nearby fighting which sent a fresh dose of adrenaline into his veins and he was forced to momentarily rein in his natural war-like tendencies to survey their surroundings.
Recognition immediately flashed within the Kaptain's mind for he found himself in the hanger of one of those poorly armed, umie cargo ships, not one of a Space Marine ship.
'Dat bloody zoggin grot' muttered Bashnag Starkilla for a group of Gretchin led by Gazlo da GrotMek had been in charge of calibrating the damned teleporter and had sent them to the wrong ship! He decided that he would have to give the runty little pile of squig scat a proper beating later but for now, there were umiez to fight.
He saw that not far from where they had arrived, a group of Marine Boyz in grey and gold were standing together in a tight formation with a ring of dead freebooterz around them. There were also several smaller umiez which accompanied the Space Marines and the Kaptain knew that it would be a poor idea to just charge those gitz while engaging the Marines in close combat. It was a good thing that they brought loads of dakka he thought with a grin.
Lifting up his brand new Kustom Snazzgun which were actually three Heavy Bolters welded together, his Nobz and Flash Gitz eagerly brought up their own array of Snazzguns, Kombi-Weapons, Big Shootas, Zzap Guns and Rokkit Launchas.
'Zog em up ladz!' roared the Kaptain and the air was filled with combined chatter of their guns. Explosive shells, solid slugs, energy beams and Rokkits flew towards the group of Space Marines with a measure of actual accuracy thanks to their Gitfindas.
Armoured bodies were cut down by the hail of fire which could have brought down a Carnifex and those few Marines who had not been outright slain by the initial volley were quick to spread out and strafe around the Orks. The Kaptain then turned his attention to the other umiez who fired back at them with small arms weapons and he unloaded a volley of Heavy Bolter rounds while roaring all the way 'WAAAAAAGGGHHH!'