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For my plan to get a ship built I needed a mechboy, which was complicated because all the Ork boys I had were still in loincloths and held sharpen sticks. Gathering up the two dozen Ork boys I had and bringing them with me wasn't going to be as easy as I thought, they were still poking at the guns and metal lying around trying to figure out what it is.

"It's a shoota!" I did not want to deal with this right now. "It fires out dakka, you know dak-ka." I tapped the large belt field machinegun with the Tyranid Warrior holding it, swatting at the long line of bullets hanging off the side. They all found what I was saying interesting but still weren't getting what the point of it all was. Apparently, the Orks needed more time than I presumed to figure out how guns were supposed to work. This was not what I wanted to learn when getting off this planet depended on their ability to make a spaceship and they can't even get the most basic stable of the Orks right.

"I may be able to order them to do just an out anything I want. However, in order to build a spaceship, I have to 'turn on' that aspect to create machinery." Otherwise they just look dumbly at me not understanding what I'm saying.

One of the Orks in the front, the one that had been most paying attention, raised his third limb. Blank eyes were still starting back and I did not have high expectations for this. "Yes, you what did you want to ask?"

"Er... So boss Wat does it do?"

I turned to my synapse creature and had it heft up the gun into its arms far better, the weapon looking far better suited in its hands. "Look here and see what happens."

Actions spoke louder than words so maybe this would knock something loose within their minds. The Tyranid Warrior pointed the gun at a nearby tent, one of the few dozen dotted around and still up. Then unleashed a volley of bullets, thankful this was one of the guns that didn't need Ork belief to function fully. The thing was so inaccurate though, we were twenty yards away. I swear most of the shots didn't even go through the tent but thankfully enough hit the rights spots to have it collapse in.

Many of the Ork boys loved it though, ooo-ing at the sight and sounds. The one who asked for the demonstration turned to the pile of scrap and crude guns and walked over to pluck an automatic weapon. It was your typical box with a barrel and gun shield. I watched hopeful of his next actions and smiled when he slammed a drum mag that shouldn't have attached to it and began firing wildly into the air. Soon he started laughing, like a child opening up a present and finding exactly what they wanted.

"Waaaagh!" Soon enough he held it with one hand and sprayed rounds after round into the air. Other Orks started to run out of fascination with the new object, ditching their spear and axes. Searching up their own guns and a few punched other Orks trying to grapple at them and a brawl almost occurred over the weapons and scrap before my influence broke it all up. I'd have to keep this in mind and try to implement a, 'whoever grabbed it first gets the thing' rule. A battle between my suddenly valuable Orks could not happen.

Although many went for the guns a little under half remained where they were and started snatching up the discarded melee weapons. I could feel they didn't understand what all the fuss was about and wondered why they were getting rid of such good weapons.

"I'm assuming those guys are Choppa boys." The rest were born to be shootas and I would wait up to see if there were any signs of a mechboy.

Thankfully the first Ork to grab a gun starter fiddling with it and trying to see what could work with it. It was like looking at a child working with lego broke but it got my hopes up. Before I doused it and told myself to calm downs and keep watching.

"Just because he's showing signs doesn't mean he's the one who's gone get me outta here."He perked up from my call and ran over. He wanted to keep tinkering but knew to come with the 'badest Ork' called.

"Boss?" He asked curiously and even a bit concerned that his new gun was going to be taken away.

"You seem to enjoy tinkering with that gun." I smiled, although soon realized it was a pointless gesture. "How would you like some more?"

This plus reinforcing my defenses, this was going to be a long evening.


Stumbling into our home Absalom nodded a greeting to my wave of acknowledgment and slumped onto one of the tree stump chairs. I had spent the rest of the day issuing orders and having foraging parties gather as much fruit as they could for a siege. Then set up a perimeter around the Ork camp, if the crude wall of bodies I had laid around there could even be labeled as such. I was mainly mentally exhausted from booking it around trying to think of ways to keep Eldar from sneaking in or lining up a good shot on me. Elder are a lot smarter than Orks and if they brought any of their larger Dinosaurs around I'd be screwed.

The only solution was that every tree for miles had to go. Not a very realistic goal but one I was going to take a good crack at. The lack of a place to hide would make any surprise attack pointless... I hoped. I would need to leave and find that scrap once my Mechboys had begun to develop, their 'expertise' would be important to know what scrap we'd need to make an aircraft that could leave the atmosphere. The Orks we're developing as well as I expected them to. Harden carapace here and there, an extra limb hanging at its side, or looking completely unaltered. Orks didn't reproduce the same way as everybody else, so maybe their reproduction was to blame for the while differences here. They were rubbing stones along sticks to make pointed tips. They would figure it out of left to tinker with the stuff, at least I hoped they would being Orks.

Absalom passed me one of the fruits, a purple sphere with a leathery feel to its skin, and took some effort to breakthrough. It was great because we had yet to find a water source and this had so much juice within it that leaked when bitten like a water balloon.

I slid my hand through the cloth dressing on my head feeling the burnt flesh. My left ear was a lost cause. I'm not a doctor, and if we had any I would have called them down here, but most of it had been roasted off by the energy weapon. There was no bleeding from my ear or cheek, yet it was third-degree burns if what I've seen in movies wasn't false. I had to use what water we had to clean it up and tear up a part of my shirt and cover it. I didn't know if this was enough and have to keep it clean as much as possible. I was not about to hope it would be fine.

I have done that enough and now it was hard to hear out of my ear.

"How is it?" Absalom inquired, he was still nervous about the whole coming out into the Jungle after me thing. Yet I stopped being angry at him and turned it on myself.

"I can mentally detect his thoughts, yet I didn't realize he was gonna pull what he did last time." Plus he was the one who dressed my wound so there was that aspect.

"I'm fine, you did great," I said casually, to telegraph to him that I wasn't mad. "It just stings a bit."

"You shouldn't be touching it, the guidelines say leaving a wound be after dressing it is best to avoid infections." He was not a doctor or medic but had some back knowledge. Which was more than I dared to hope I might get.

"I'll keep that in mind..." He was oddly concerned for my safety, the idea that we were a family, and able to consistently disobey my orders to run off and 'help' me. "Why do you keep disregarding my orders Absalom? What compelled you to run off into the Jungle after me or climb into that drop pod?" I asked carefully, not wanting to make him feel nervous or that I was upset.

"You forgot your rifle and we had spare armor to use and you were trekking through the Jungle. To face an unseen adversary and decided to follow, in case of anything occurring." He explained it plainly enough but I could feel that there was something more to it.

I swallowed more of the fruit before replying. "I have many Guards, in both instances. Creations of the God above and a lasgun and this armor was unnecessary." Absalom shifted uncomfortably, he had considered just that but found himself struggling to justify it to himself.

I let my hand cross the table and plant itself over his. "You can tell me, I merely wish to understand you and what's going on here." I could have just dived into his mind and dug it up from there. However, I wanted him to speak his mind. To feel like he could speak to me freely without repercussion.

Absalom remained quiet for a few minutes, starting at the crudely made chessboard on the table we had. Contemplating the offer before his reply. "I never knew my mother and my father never wanted to broach the subject. He taught me everything I needed to know about running a business. How to allocate funds and resources, spot scams and create them, how to hold a crew together."

"Sounds like a great man."

He nodded slowly, but somehow unsure. "He taught me things... But that was all he did. Never holding me tight or even using terminology to portray that he loved me. He did love him and I. Yet he was always busy and I never took it as anything else." Absalom's face fell, sorrow and regret was radiating off him.

"He died in a, well, illegal dealing gone wrong. We needed the money and took the risk. I never had the chance to truly be with him as a son... When I became a part of the brood I felt as if a part of me had been filled, a part I didn't know about. A place where we could all be family and remain close... and I don't know how to thank you other than remaining at your side... For safety reasons."

I stared at Absalom, his genuine smile, and knew full well that this is what he believed. This is what he thought, and had no way of lying to me.

"But what part of this is Absalom and what is the Genestealer infection warping his mind to think a certain way?" I can never know, but this is what he thinks and it makes him happy... in the wrong sort of way.

I sighed. "Well, I'm actually glad you're here these past few days would have been quite dull without you." I moved to set up my end of the board and Absalom followed suit on his end. "That doesn't mean I think you constantly disobeyed my commands to be okay. That was not an invitation to run and keep doing that."

His mental view of my words and the situation thankfully changed. I was appreciative of someone to do small talk and share ideas with, that's where the two-staged spore mines idea came from. I was just gonna double up the mines before Absalom tossed the idea out there. Then there was how to test fruit for being safe to eat, yeah apparently there was a method to it all and he was taught it just in case.

"Still not gonna let him touch anything new that's for sure." Getting him to follow any command was a difficult task as bing firm wasn't always enough. It took a telepathic tasking that dulled his eyes and turned him into an automaton of sorts. Not something I enjoyed doing when I left to scan the environment in person.

In fact, trying to get Absalom to stay here would be pointless it seems. "I need to forge a new exhibition to the west for resources. I would love to have your company." I smiled graciously as his spirits seemed to lift at that response.

"Even if I just leave the guy here. He's just going to be chasing after me I could ensure his safety better this way."

I needed to assemble a large enough force to move west and take out any Ork camps to loot. The issue was if my theory about the Eldar being mostly situation to the west I couldn't just send Lictors. I needed to take a whole army out there otherwise the Eldar would keep shooting my scouts to prevent me from finding them. I had zero intention of doing that but they didn't know it. My force had to consist of Centaurs and Orks to gather and carry the resources to make a ship. Carrying around large chunks of scrap through Ork lands with the very real possibility of being harassed by Eldar as well.

It was not something I was looking forwards to but it's not as if I had any other way of getting back into Orbit. Speaking of which I'd have to check on my Orks come tomorrow, and see what they've been able to build.


I woke up early as usual and amassed my army. Fifteen Centaurs, a few hundred mixes of all my Gaunts, thirty Raveners, a Tyranid Warrior, and a pack of Genestealers. The other one would have to stay here to guard the Ork camp and landing zone. More 'nids, specifically more Centaurs to be grown by the Cruiser. The spawning pools on the ground weren't built up enough for that yet. My conquest plans might have been over but that didn't mean I shouldn't prepare for more battles or skirmishes to come.

There were a lot of forces on this planet that would like to kill me after all.

My army assembled I first marched out of the Ork camp to check out how my boys were doing. Many were mosying around trying to strap things to their guns with clearly no idea what they were doing. There was even a pile of mulch on the ground, I presumed from a few of them tinkering with explosives.

"I probably should have tried explaining to them what grenades and rockets were before I left."

A few regarded their boss and the Tyranid Warrior and Termagants around him before going back to what they were doing. There were more Orks around now, sharpening sticks or fashioning axes, trying to keep tents from falling in on themselves. All of the various states of mutation from the foreign genes. Most were fine through. I even passed some Gretchen trying to herd Squigs into makeshift pens of sticks held together with cloth. Out of all I had seen the Squigs had gotten the short end of the stick as far as mutations. Many were struggling to stand much less walk due to the bulging carapace or extra legs. The results aided the Gretchen in corralling the creatures for whatever reason they were doing that for.

Eventually, I found the Ork I truly came here for. The guy who first got into the concept of the gun. That Greenskin in particular had been tinkering all day and night. To me, he was just putting random junk with more random junk that somehow made a three-barreled Gatling gun. Which was fine because that's how I was going to get a spaceship.

"I think Tinker would be the best name for him."

"Boss!" Tinker cried out looking up from his gun to regard me. I got far closer, carefully observing his movements. The extra limb especially was adjusting straps and bolts. There was real intent behind those eyes, the other Orks were mainly putting things together because it looked cool or they just wanted a long spear sticking out from the barrel. Tinker 'knew' what he was doing though, in a general sense, if he was the biologically born mechboy I was looking for then great!

"A fine weapon you've got here." I declared with all the sincerity I could muster.

"I'z making da biggest belt for da dakka!" He gestures to the lines of connected bullets and

I hummed approvingly, although it didn't seem like he cared for my approval, just a deep desire to fire shoot at someone with it. "Hm, a shame there are too few people to fight with here."

That got him to perk up, the idea of not being able to use his shoota, and riddle people with holes was not a pleasant one. "There are so few on this planet but if we could just take it the stars"

He stared up and wondered the same thing himself. "'Ow much fightin is out dere boss?"

I smiled, knowing I had his interest and the idea forming in his bulging head. "Would you like to help me find out?"


Marching or rather briskly jogging through the Jungle with the brood I had assemled and Orks. Listening to a Vanguard of Lictors searching for signs of Orks or Eldar was dull. Not that I was complaining. A dull day of the wind breezing through the leaves and foliage being crushed under clawed foot was better than being shot at. The exceptionally wide formation taken up by my brood was to make getting close to Absalom and I hard. Raveners, the Tyranid Warrior, and the towering Centaurs whose bodies were snapping branches for us to crush underfoot. They would all serve as shields to keep any snipers from getting a beat on either of us. Plus the eight Ork boys and the dozens of Gretchen we also had, they were secondary but needed to get the scrap and do anything with it.

The day's jog and then march wasn't much for me, who had done stuff akin to this before being transported into 40K. Absalom on the other hand never left his Hormogaunt, which was fine but his ship lifestyle was noticeable on how quickly he settled into stuff like this.

My logic about this whole trip was literally just of he hauled west then deployed scouts then eventually we'd find signs of Orks. They were messy creatures so long as we checked out a came would be inevitable to see. I was right about one thing, Orks were messy and a bit too much at that.

We found signs of them, footprints, trends of vehicles, a whole clearing of chopped or burnt trees, and bullet casings and bodies steered about. Yet there was so much stuff and growing as we continued further west I had to wonder if tracking them would be possible. Heck, I even had Gargoyles in the air and they too didn't give me much to go on.

"Especially if it gets any thicker than this." I thought as yet another mount of Ork feces passed us by.

"I'm going to climb a tree." The brood stopped before I made my declaration, sensing my actions before then. "Get a better view of the surrounding area before we advance."

"Are you certain Michael? These things don't look as stable." Absalom voiced and I could see why they didn't look very healthy and the bark seemed to crumble off far too easily for my liking.

"Perhaps you're right..." I eyed one of my Centaurs and noted it was pretty tall. So its free hand came down to hoist me onto its shoulders where I saw a whole lot of dying trees and unhealthy brown and grey stretching all around us.

"We need to find something, anything, so I can get to capturing it for my use." As I scanned the area and thought that the dimming sun mean this was pointless I saw smoke in the distance. A lot of smoke Northwest and smiled. Elder would never be so obvious so I had myself lowered down and Absalom nodded graciously before mounting. He could tell what that smile was about even if I kept my mind shut to all Hybrids. He'd come to know me well enough this past month.

Traveling further that way my Lictors would report a sizable base but when I got there it looked a lot more like an outpost of sorts. Surrounded by the same empty marsh as before and it had walls if you loosen the definition of the word. It was all ramp stacked logs, metal, and whatever else junk they could be bothered to place there. All about as tall as your average Ork and nothing like the tall wooden ones of the camp I took over of which his one was half the size but with twice the tents and cooking fires.

"Taking this will be a different verse unlike the first." I wasn't sure if there was scrap here but didn't want to leave an Ork camp near me. "Plus this will make a fine outpost for me to use-"

My thoughts were interrupted by a rocket being fired. It fell way short and blew a hole in the ground. Orks began climbing on top of the wall, or just barrier and firing every bullet they had. Many others leaped over with melee weapons and started waving them about and we're screaming 'Waaagh!'. I just managed to stop and restrain my own Orks while Absalom pulled me to the ground. I kept my face to the floor while ordering all my ranged units to form a ring line, Gargoyles to take to the air, and flank north and south but kept twenty in reserve. Then I connected to my synaptic Tyranid.

I had to plug my ears to mute the additional audio and calm my fears but by taking the time to analyze the situation I felt like I could win this. For one, the entire distance to us was about as long as a mile. Plus they had to jump over a barrier so it was less a wave of bodies and more a steady trickle out. Two, these guys were clearly under poor or little leadership and itching too much for a fight. My Termagants formed their line, I've two hundred of them and opened to with thousand of spikes. Centaurs joined in and while many of the shots dropped short or did little the sheer volume of fire gradually began to thin out the Ork melee. Now that I had the chance to scan the force it was about the size of the one that hit my base the first time. Perhaps even a hundred or so more.

Their shots, already poorly aimed, were affected by the distance to be even more inaccurate. It was mainly bark, leaves, and branches raining onto us. Rockets exploded in the air or even in the horde of Greenskins coming at us. Blowing sizable gaps into the thinning force. Which wasn't to say they didn't get lucky many Termagants staggered back but few dropped and even my Tyranid Warrior had to duck down from the hail of bullets.

The Centaur's cannons were scything away more and more Orks, their charge was grinding to a halt. With many turning to retreat, confused as to why they were losing.

The Gargoyles I had sent into the sky were now coming from the North and South. The Shoota boys were too busy aiming at us to notice the threat from above. The murder of winged Gaunts swooped over, releasing their Spore mines and dozens rained over them. I order my Termagaunts and Centaurs to advance and deal with the stragglers. I had plenty of melee-oriented 'Nids but felt taking them out from a distance would be fine. The shoota's soon disappeared under the explosion of acidic mist.

At first, things seemed just about over with the remaining Orks to be cut down by my advancing firing line. Yet through the dark green mist, smashing through the barriers, were five war Trakks. Each was different from the other, some had more armor, another had a plow that was driving a path before it, and another was lightly armed but full of boys spewing off rounds. They drow into the retreating Choppa boys with reckless abandon. All but one had a heavy machine gun that was spewing hit lead our way. When these rounds found their mark they exploded or tore out large parts of the Termagants spraying purple ichor and killing many.

The most concerning one were the truck with a multi-rocket launcher. A fact I learned when it finally opened up and six rockets zipped over to slam into one of my Centaurs. The blast blew carapace and chunks of flesh off and it flopped over crushing many Termagants in the process. Identifying it as the biggest threat I had all nearby Centaurs fire but barely a hand full of them took the shot and two of the manned shots hit their mark. One through the frontal engine blocks the other through the left side of the truck bed. Misting many Orks and flipping it onto its side.

I tried to get the remaining nineteen of them to fire. But it turns out the rest of my Centaurs weren't because they were waiting for more biological ammo to fill in. Cause I just had them shoot out most of it in the opening wave of Orks.

So instead of that, I had them move to intercept the trucks while the Gargoyles I kept in reserve swooped in. They spattered against the trucks but their payloads detonated sending two flipping over but many missed their mark or were shot down. A Centaur was killed instantly and caused the tuck they blocked to jump up and send all its occupants crashing hard into the ground. My Termagants fired while Hormagaunts moved in to finish them. The few Orks will gun cut do as many as they could.

The remaining truck was also stopped by two Centaurs who got the bones in their arms broken for the trouble. The Orks poured fire into them and one especially bulky one jumped out to bury its ax into the Centaur's head. The thick carapace just getting it stuck instead as more Termagants surrounded and cut them down.

"This cost me a lot more of my Brood than I would have liked..."

I had my other Gargoyles fly over the camp and drop their remaining payloads. The blasts would flush out the remaining Orks and cut off any retreat. After I was certain the battle was mine I disconnected from the Tyranid Warrior and turned to my Genestealers.

I would have the Genestealer go around an implant as many bodies as it could. Even if I began to suspect it was a pointless move. The Eldar would have the brainpower to burn as many bodies Ork as they could. Even if they didn't know what I was doing with them. Orks could still regrow into regular bands. I still brought Genestealers along and wasn't in a hurry to leave just yet so I thought 'why not'? After they moved to the fresh bodied I turned to the eight Ork boys we had as their dozens of Gretchen helpers.

"Alright, Tinker!" I turned to the disappointed and annoyed Ork. "Let's go in and you can take what you need and we'll pile it up where you need to build it at."

That would be taken care of fairly automatically by my brood while I went off Absalom to claim a tent. It was getting really late and we skipped lunch. I also needed to take stock of my losses, some of my Centaurs. Large tank-sized creatures had been killed here and they're not exactly cheap or fast to make. Now I was pretty sure to drop pods could make it to where I am. The Bio-Crusier was stuck in the atmosphere but I think we were in range. Yet relying on it to make more troops and recoup losses wasn't going to be a sustainable strategy if said losses began to mount like the bodies I passed.

I yawned as the Hormagaunt carried me towards the new base. "A problem to think on after I eat and get a good night's rest."