Chapter 20: Battle For Kitomer: Part Two
Reviewers:
Liljimmyurine: You'll get your Fighta-bombers. And remember, photon torpedoes were enhanced by the Imperium along with Federation shields and hull armor.
Silvanas: Good call on the Dragon's ship. I don't think the Necrons have titans though.
Non-Prophet: Don't worry; I'm building up to the challenge. The combination of the Dragon, the Orks and the Tyranids will make a descent challenge don't you think? And the Voyager crew will make an appearance soon, so don't worry about that. Also, most of the Imperium didn't even know the chaos gods existed. They'll be some celebrating when the story goes back there, trust me.
Grayangle: Thanks. Oh Picard will be surprised, you can be sure of that.
Shogun Lodge: Don't worry the Klingons will fight, and they may already have some new toys from the Imperium. (Imagines Ork swinging choppa, missing, getting decapitated by power Bat'leth.) I'll do my best with the Tyranid material I found online.
Silvanas: Good call. Khorne wouldn't have had the magic to escape, and Nurgle would have been too slow. So tell me what you think of this: the Chaos gods go to the Maelstrom and start building up new armies.
The Ork forces smashed into the Imperial battle lines. Artillery fire from Basilisks and other guns had made dents in the Ork wave, but not enough. The 456th Mordian Iron Guard regiment met the Orks at the first defensive line. Disciplined waves of lasgun fire pitched hundreds of Orks into the dirt, but many more still came on. Overhead, Fighta-bommerz strafed the Guard troops. Titans of the Legio Praetor fired at the crude gas-guzzlers with Turbo Lasers and Gatling bolter cannons. Soon Imperial Thunderbolts and Furies arrived and engaged them as well. Fury Squadron led the charge. Their wing had recently left the war for Armageddon and joined the invasion fleet when the Imperium entered the new galaxy. They had lost many of their friends to Ork flyers and they wanted revenge.
"Ok Furies, let's show these greenskin bastards how real pilots fly!" Wing Leader Rath "Hawk" Nyder yelled.
"You got it boss," pilot Dacksha replied, heading toward a trio of Bommerz angling towards the artillery battery. AA fire from Hydra emplacements took one down while Rath's squadron got on their tail. "Let's win this one for Mad Squadron!" He spoke of the squadron that had been ambushed and completely wiped out two days before they left Armageddon. That got everyone fired. Up. Dacksha got on the six of one Bomber and fired the Lascannons mounted on his fighter's wings. The Ork plane began smoking, then an engine caught fire. The fire ruptured a fuel line and the entire plane vanished in a huge fireball. A general rule about Ork flyers, his one sweet spot the whole thing'll go up. The haphazard construction of Ork planes made the easy to shoot down if you could avoid their loads of big guns.
Nyder was all over the second Ork bomber. Its turret fire was heavy but inaccurate, and after over a year of battling Orks he had their combat routines down. Every Ork had its own style, but several things were always the same. They always aimed for the biggest target, so he would come at them from the direction of the sun and while they were blinded he'd take them out. His nose-mounted autocannon pierced the Ork plane's cockpit and the plane dove toward the ground where it impacted into a pack of Ork boyz.
"All right guys, let's get back into the main fight," he ordered. There were plenty more Orks for htem to blast, and they intended to kill as many of htem as they could.
The main battle was in full swing. Orks had overrun the first line, the Mordians having pulled back, leading the Orks into a minefield. Dreadnaughts and Killer Kans, backed up with all manner of buggies, tanks and battle fortresses, surged forward. The Gargants were locked in a struggle with the Imperial Titans. The only mega-gargant was currently locked in a struggle with the Imperator titan Dominus Exitio. The gargant swung a massive chainsaw arm at the titan, catching it in the side. The blade bit deep, causing massive damage to the internal systems. While it was distracted however, the titans Princips swung the titans own close combat weapon, a massive power fist, into the massive machine's belly. The main kannon was crushed and its ammunition exploded, causing a series of crackling bangs. The chainsaw blade detached from the titan's flank, causing more damage on its way out. While the mega-gargant was still staggering, the Princips thrust his machine's main weapon forward. The massive Plasma Annialator caught the Ork war machine square in the chest, vaporizing it from the chest up and detonating its reactor. The titan weathered the blast, and then slowly trotted off in search of its next target.
Picard saw the battle of machines from the bridge of the Charger. Along with the Centaur, the Federation squadron was slashing a path through the Ork hordes. The Centaur had lost a nacelle and the Charger's warp drive was crippled, but they were still in the fight.
"Admiral, General Drennon is hailing us," the actual captain of the Charger reported.
"On screen," he replied. Drennon's face appeared.
"Admiral, the battle is going well. With the loss of their main gargants and the damage you're doing to their artillery units, I think we may just win this one."
"I agree. How are our ground forces doing?"
"The Orks are putting up one hell of a fight. I'm going to send the Klingons in."
"The Klingons?"
"Yes, our forge ship has been manufacturing battle gear for them. I think you will be pleasantly surprised."
The Orks were moving toward the second line. Just as the Orks were about to scale the barricades, over a thousand Klingon warriors materialized alongside the guardsmen. They almost opened fire but they saw the Imperium patches on their clothing. General Kolgoth was leading the regiment being called the Quonos First.
"Warriors, this is a great day!" He bellowed. "Today we will test our mettle against a foe as fierce as us! We will show these Orks the folly of fighting against the forces of the Imperium! Ready weapons!" Each Klingon warrior in the regiment had been issued several pieces of equipment during its founding. Power Bat'leths and knives, Plasma Pistols instead of Disruptors, and carapace armor molded in the shape of their normal body armor. The plasma pistols were the most recent issue. Federation scientists had developed a coolant and containment system that eliminated the Plasma Pistols habit of exploding.
The Orks scaled the barricade just in time to get hit by a wave of plasma. Pieces of Orks fell to the ground, but more Orks still charged. After another volley of plasma, the Klingons drew their Bat'leths and thumbed the activation runes. The weapons blades began to glow a soft blue hue. The Power Bat'leths had been a gift from the Imperium to the Klingons as thanks for joining. The Klingons had been skeptical of the weapons at first, but they had soon come to accept them.
Orks were cut apart by the Klingons' swift, precise strokes. Bat'leth blades sliced through Ork choppas and into the bests behind them. General Kolgoth battled with an Ork Nob. The Nob swung a power claw at him, but the General swiftly ducked as the claw passed over him. He instantly swung his Bat'leth into the Ork's arm, severing it and dropping the Power Claw to the ground. Bellowing more in rage than pain, the Nob opened up with the shoota strapped to its arm. Kolgoth spun to the side, and most of the rounds either missed or bounced off his armor, but three pierced his armor and embedded themselves in his thigh. He cried out in rage and swung the blade with all his strength, decapitating the massive Ork and allowing its body to slump to the ground.
All along the line the Klingons were kicking Ork ass. Their power weapons and skill in close combat soon had the Orks reeling. Suddenly, the Orks armored support arrived. Warbikes swept along the Klingon lines, opening up with their Big Shootas. Dozens of Klingons fell but they got their revenge. When the bikes and buggies closed in the Klingons opened up again with their Plasma Pistols. Vehicles exploded left and right under the Klingons fire and the volleys of Krak missiles and lascannon beams from the Guard troops. They had been concentrating on the Ork battle fortresses, and several of them were smoking and exploding. With their armored support gone and their air assets tied up the Ork boyz were in a bad place. Their warboss decided to make one final all out attack. Thousands of Orks charged the Imperial lines. The Klingons met them head on. Power Bat'leths and knives skewered Orks and Plasma shots vaporized others. Soon the Warboss himself came to fight. His twin linked Big Shoota blew apart seven Klingons before they could get in range to fight back. General Kolgoth, his wounds still fresh, bellowed a roar of challenge at the massive Ork. He clunked his way over to the General; his massive suit of armor as wide as it was tall, making the Ork one massive killing machine. With a bellow, the two leaders were locked in combat.
The Ork swung his power claw at Kolgoth, who parried with his Bat'leth. Still, the force of the attack drove him back several steps. The Warboss fallowed up with a blast from his Big Shoota, the volley finding only air as Kolgoth dropped into a crouch. He fired his pistol and nailed the Warboss on the right arm, severing the gun's ammo feeds. Now only useful as a club, the Warboss attempted to gore Kolgoth with the massive horns jutting out of its armor. Kolgoth swung his Bat'leth around in a partial circle and chopped the horns off the armored body of the Warboss, who screamed in the General's face, thick globs of saliva landing all over him. "You fight good humie," he said, speaking for the first time since the duel began.
"As do you," Kolgoth said back. "Your kind fight well, if without honor. You overwhelm your foes instead of defeating them one on one."
"Why duel when you can crush!" The Ork said, swinging his now useless gun around in an attempt to cave Kolgoth's head in. He ducked and brought up his Bat'leth, spearing it through the Warboss. Blood flowed from the Orks' mouth, but he still swung his Power Claw again. Kolgoth severed the claw at the elbow of the Orks' arm. Then he reversed his swig and took the Warboss's head off. As the Warboss's body slumped to the ground, the Orks around them seemed to loose confidence. They began running away. Most of them were cut down fleeing the city. Strafing runs from Imperial planes killed the rest. The battle of Kitomer was over, with the Orks at least.
The time had come! The Dragon had gathered enough soul energy to retrieve his flagship. He teleported himself to the small tomb complex on Kitomer and thrust a glowing green crystal into a slot. Overhead a mountain split apart and a massive obsidian spire fired a beam of energy into space. On board the Enterprise, there was confusion.
"What is that?" Worf asked as the beam began opening a hole in space. Within the outline of what seemed to be an ancient Terran dragon could be seen. When the vessel emerged from another dimension its full horror was revealed. A large as a Retribution class battleship, the vessel was pure black, so that light seemed to be drawn into it. A pair of what looked like wings jutted from its middle. A long neck ended in a death mask that seemed to project pure terror into whoever gazed into its eyes. Then those eyes fired blasts of green energy that ripped apart any ship caught in their deadly embrace. Dozens of Imperial ships were vaporized. "Get us out of here!" He ordered. The Enterprise flew through the wreckage of destroyed ships as it attempted to escape. They were nearly out when a ship near them took a direct hit from the Necron ships' weapons. The explosion didn't do much damage, but a tendril of the blast came through the hull and struck the Enterprise. The shields didn't stop the beam, which struck the Federation flagship just aft of the saucer section, shearing the entire ship in half.
"Sir, the warp core's going to explode. There's no way to stop it. We've gotta abandon ship!" La Forge yelled. He had been on the bridge when the beam struck.
"This is the acting captain. All hands abandon ship. Repeat, all hands abandon ship!" All over Enterprise, escape pods detached themselves from the hull. Nearby Imperial ship tractored them into their docking bays. The Necron ship, having blasted its way through the Imperial fleet, seemed to suddenly vanish, leaving behind the wreckage of destroyed and crippled ships.
How was this chapter? Next chapter Picard will face the truth of war, and he will take command of a new ship. In the next chapter the Tyranids will finally make their debut. Stay tuned for Stirring Up The Hornets Nest? Until then, review and I'll see ya soon!
ENTILZA