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Fleeing through the wasteland, mirroring my early days on Typhon except for the fact this place was a brown near lifeless wasteland of mud and trees barely hanging on. That means it was going to b a cakewalk for the Orks to track us back to the outpost and then get a good general direction of the landing zone. Which I was going to assume the Orks were going to unless proven otherwise.
"I've just presented them the first real fight away from the hit and run tactics the Exodites likely used on them. It's reasonable to think they'd keep going after me looking for another good fight."
The Eldar and I rode hard, maintaining a side-by-side pace with one another. I had experience riding a Hormagaunt at high speeds and was thusly able to hold myself firmly onto its back. The woman next to me had no such training and with only one arm she struggled to maintain a grip precipitating the need to slow at times. In the back of my head, I kept telling myself that precious time was being lost. Yet the more rational side pointed out wasn't stopping just slowing down by a bit and they were not that frequent to make a significant dent in our progress. The Orks would take a moment to hunt down the stragglers as I wanted them to. Then revel in their victory before regrouping to search for this new adversary that had made themselves known with a nice and proper fight.
The sun didn't stop falling on our accord and soon enough disappeared below the horizon long before islands of foliage began to reassert themselves. I strangely wasn't feeling all that tried but that could be chalked up to the need to move everything out of the camp as soon as everything was up. Getting in the telepathic range I was able to issue orders to grab everything and load it into large sacks made from the tents. Or just into the hull of the starship tip, Tinker had made, we were carrying that.
So that by the time we got there everything was already prepared to move, with Termagants assisting with carrying food and cauldrons. Tinker wanted to melt those things down anyway, perhaps now was the time to oblige the Greenskin once we'd made it to the landing zone. Just having the Centaurs carry Tinker work wasn't going to cut it though, the thing was too heavy for even three of them. Even working from one side and trying to just drag the thing wasn't working.
"I can't just leave this thing behind, it's the most progress we've got..." Then I got thinking and knew that there was no way Tinker could add anything to this now or later. I planned to build up a new army them properly take the Cruiser crash site. So after some deliberating, I made that hard choice to leave the thing behind. Tinker could always make a new one later on and after firmly telling the guy to just leave it we were speeding off once more. My once nightly brood was reduced to a mishmash of Horma and Termagants, three Centaurs, no Raveners, and likely an entire Ork Warband now on the prowl. All that wasn't even mentioning the Exodites that could and should have been watching the fight and just saw me lose a significant portion of my forces. They'd no doubt would note just how weak and vulnerable I was but unlike the Orks knew both locations I lived at. Hence why I kept the Eldar woman closer to me than ever before and wanted to race to the landing zone, in case anybody decided the start something.
"This would be the best time to do it and maybe start picking off whatever Ork force gets sent out to hunt me down with gorilla attacks." It was the sheer lack of a formalized ceasefire that had me thinking this. "Perhaps the basket of goodies was a peace offering but their leaders were seeing just what I would do and far against the orkoid threat."
As we continued to race through the thick foliage and thanked my brain for deciding not to bring the start of the starship. The packed trees would have killed any consistent pace we would've been able to keep up as we were.
I began to think back to the battle I just had and to how I'd lost. The organization used in the charge wasn't impressive per se. The Orks mainly surged out of their vehicles at the same time to cause chaos and draw fire. It worked on me I was dumbfounded for a few moments before I dispatched orders. Although it wouldn't have mattered as the Orks were moving as one mass and following up the opening. I won the times before cause there was some eagerness to charge into danger without a clear plan besides running at your own speed. Or just spewing bullets into the air and unable to hit just about nothing. If they were even aiming at me I doubt they would hit the broadside of a barn. They moved like a long drawn out wave and cared little for the fire I was pouring down. The Orks at the crash site waited for the bombing to stop and took out as man Gargoyles with a hail of bullets
Still didn't make the previous hordes harmless but it did mean I felt there was a pattern to their behavior. Yet these guys had a leader who held a thin tactical sense and while I still haven't met the chief not had much time to investigate. To understand this new threat and now it would have to be done as soon as I had a new army. Calling the Bio-cruiser to up the production on both land and air I needed to get as many troops to put on defense and whether any storm coming my way. My thoughts paused as I ordered the group to slow and allow the Eldar to reorient her grip before my thoughts could resume.
"Whatever happens next shall be done by either the Orks or Exodites. Until someone makes a move I need to take every second to rebuild my brood to prepare to just buy time and prepare for whatever is to come.."
It was still pretty late at night by the time we had arrived at the landing zone. Sure there was the tiniest shimmer of the sun over the horizon. The moon was still out and pretty large so that was the principal thing that illuminate the area, plus the 'Nids could see just fine. The sun hung high in the sky and every 'Nid was so exhausted I could feel their hearts about to burst from the rush here. The thick foliage seriously impeded our progress once it got to that healthy point. The landing zone had changed or the greenery around the place had, the spire leading from the Biocrusier had gotten noticeably thicker, the size of a Baneblade if I hadn't gotten the scale wrong. The smaller plant life and grass had all but died, it was a subtle thing at first, a few plants here and there. Things were mostly okay at the Ork camp nearest and said Gretchen there were to make a long move of taking their Squigs to the digestive pools to be broken down.
Every ounce of biomass would be needed here, although that opinion would slightly change after getting closer and looking at just how much plant life had died. Or sucked the life out of more like. It was as if they collapsed in on themselves, with more odd fleshy green crescents sprouting in their place. Tyranid organisms, the kind that fans out to spread how far the bioship can extract biomass from the soil. I would have a lot here already, sure it wasn't using biomass to get more but I wasn't hunting for it just yet. The further we went the larger the fleshy stalks got and the less plant life there was, trees seemed to be shriveling until their stems fell to become nothing but piles of decaying bark and collapsed wood. The woman beside me was glaring at the continued desecration of her homeworld.
"First the Orks now the Tyranids, she's probably wondering why her people just cannot catch a break."
Finally, we arrived at my stronghold proper and boy did it look like a desert. Okay sure it had no sand but within the three or so mile area it was in and some ways out of the perimeter it was completely barren.
I had my Exodite companion headed away to the bunker Absalom and I once shared. She was pretty tired anyway and unlike me struggling to stay awake. So I might as well have her separated and sent off to get some shut-eye. The Tyranids I'd pushed to near-death had collapsed to the ground the moment I ordered them to get some rest. The action even startled my Eldar companion turning to look back a little startled and confused. She wasn't telepathically linked though so of course she wasn't able to know what I knew and only saw these things as relentless beasts. Not muscles in an arm that could be strained and held limits to their abilities.
The materials they brought with them were being taken off and carried to a pile near the spire for Tinker to do... Whatever he liked really.
"Speaking of Exodites I should give a standing order not to shoot at any Eldar they see unless they attack first." Just in case, I didn't want to ruin the ceasefire because they lack communication skills.
Once she was away I yawn and fought agamist the urge to sleep and instead scrutinized my defenses. All the bunkers were here. Although only the ones at the third line were fully manned. The ones just behind had a few scattered along a few of the bunkers to cover as much of the circle and leave no side open. Dozens upon dozens of Hormagaunts lay scattered in their covered ambush positions, although the leaves had grown brown and now it was just dead leaves and branches. It all managed to fit with the dying landscape the whole area now held though. So I allowed them to stay there, I had no other use for them and the Raveners were in the trenches between the bunkers of my third line yet they were far less than my Hormagaunts. The only thing that remain fine was the Spore mines, elevated into the thousands buried between all three defensive lines. They were evenly spread out with great care. I was glad for it, the Tyranids follow my orders to prepare all this and the Sargents kept everyone in line with the final Tyranid Warrior here.
"I have no Centaurs, no Alpha Raveners, or many Gaunts to really occupied the miles of space I have here..." Replenishing my numbers was going to take so much time the likes of which I could only hope I'd have...
Thoughts of just straight up abandoning the first two lines to consolidate everything on the first by the spire grew fast. The mines would pick them off so nicely, yet the Ork had tank and rockets, memories of his they just blew up a bunker during my first real engagement. Plus that more confined space with the cruiser's spire would mean one stray shot could either hit my bunker or cripple then topple the massive thing over us. So perhaps moving back just one line would have to do, I had the manpower to fully crew the second line and more than enough Spore mines for when we'd need to fall back.
That plan still forming I had my last synapse creature carry me to the spawning pools at the base of the spire. The things had widened in size but it was only when I got there did I managed to appreciate the large pools with translucent green fluid shimmering in the moonlight. I could see surprisingly well and be getting the unsettling feeling that it wasn't just due to good eyesight or just the moonlight.
I thought about taking off the bandage to look at the tissue but decided against it.
Drawing my mind away from that and past the pulsating pods with fresh 'Nids growing inside towards the digestive reclamation pool. The green fluid there was a lot thicker than the spawning one and was also acidic. It wasn't just for looking to the pool but also the Gretchen and Squigs marching or inching their way over here and towards the pool. Certainly enough I saw some body parts floating around still being broken down and more little Orkoid creatures advancing to join it. There were no screams of pain, the Gretchen and their pets, or sides suffered in silence. They felt pain but it seemed like my orders to just come over and walk into the reclamation pools were taken very literally. They walked or crawled into the thick acids without not reservations, they were Hybrids and I had ordered them to do this firmly.
"They are all mentally incapable of saying no to me. Just following along with little care or independence through for what they were doing..."
Does something like this happen on human words conquered by the Genestealers and a lot of Hybrids marched lockstep into the digestive pools? It is a way to fulfill their duty to their 'god above' but the Hybrid Gretchen was just... marching without consideration of what they were doing. It wasn't that they were gleefully doing this but just following through as if this was a mundane office job and not a pool that would break them down and allow me to use the DNA to hopefully make new troops. Or perhaps even unlock new designs to better face what was coming, I now recalled how Eldar DNA made power Psyker units. Then cursed myself for letting the only Eldar body I had just be handed back to them.
"Some creatures like that would've been so useful to have..." Oh well, no point in dwelling on it now. At least it was useful in humanizing me to the Eldar, or at least I presumed that's what it would do.
I stared back at the Gretchen and Squigs moving silently, even within their minds towards the objective I'd given them, and wondered just how much this made me more 'nid that human. To think so passively about sending the creature to the slow and painful breakdown of their cells and feel indifferent if they understood their plight or not... They were Orks but was that just the most convenient excuse I had for killing them?
Time and time again I wondered about this exact thing and could never shake the idea that I could be changing into something else.
"I need to lie down and get some sleep. It's been a long day..."
When I woke, it was already mid-day, not surprising for a time to wake up at. I had been up for so long and although I didn't feel it that badly I was tired last night and went to bed late. I eyed my Eldar guest who was on the far side of the bunker and flanked by two Termagants. I ordered some canned food to be brought to her. I couldn't take the time to eat anything other than an aging fruit, as what woke me up was my Tyranids guards reporting an Eldar past the third perimeter line.
Everything pulled back to the second as it meant whoever this was had to cross a minefield and was now seriously exposed. Perhaps they didn't know of the former but definitely knew about the ladder situation they places themselves in. The abandoned bunkers were the only things they could use as cover for at least two miles, as the barren land left no foliage to use. The idea of an Eldar Ranger sniping me still had me airing on the side of caution and peering through my surprising expendable Tyranid Warrior. I knew I had to head out with only a single fruit to mull me over till later.
It was him, the Psyker I'd made the deal with. He still hadn't shown so I left his companion deep within the base and left riding fast to the second perimeter line. Twin Termagants were already eyeing him for anything suspicious. The man still had the same outfit from before and so there was little chance of him hiding something to use on me.
"I mean he is a Psyker and can microwave things with his mind so he already has a hidden arsenal."
Which wasn't to say he wasn't armed with more conventional weaponry, a sword and pistol were clearly visible on my approach. The Tyranid Warrior covered me as I dismounted to try and confidently walk over in equal standing. The Eldar kept his arms crisscrossed, pointedly making himself non-threatening. I still had that lasgun, the gun had barely served a purpose when my Tyranids were around. I kept it slung over my shoulder all this time to the point it became second nature. It lacked much use but I held onto the strap and stuck my left hand's thumb into my pocket, trying to look casual. Like this wasn't an encounter between adversaries but a relaxed discussion between neighbors.
"Hello there... Never did get your name." I tiled my head in a questioning sort of way yet he maintain that neutral look and ignored the implied inquiry.
"Your assault on the Ork crash site was laughable." He said without humor or even snark.
I couldn't help but sigh here. "Yeah, apparently the boss there has two more brain cells to rub together than I expected him to have." True enough, the guy kept the bulk of his ban from just charging into the fray. Knew to use his artillery and armored vehicles to beak and scatter my line. He was smarter than I thought and I wouldn't be making the same mistake twice.
"Orks are not mindless beasts. A blunt object hurdling themselves against a foe but do not mistake their simple minds as stupidity." The way he explained this made me think he was actually trying to give me advice here. Odd but not I welcomed, that meant we weren't purely opposed enemies in his eyes. Otherwise why nothing with trying to help me?
"I know, they're tough." My eyes hardened in what I hoped expanded on me to be serious about the next statement. "I'm going to try a less direct approach next time, as soon as I have the forces rebuilt."
Assuming the Eldar decided to just let me do that after ending up in such a weakened state. It was also assumed they too weren't in a weak state to capitalize on my situation and simply deal with me. It would be great if they just sat by and let us fight.
"Perhaps that's what this is... Sizing me up and seeing if it's worth killing the potential threat they can reason with."
"Is that why you're here? Give me advice...? You people carried off the coffin I placed but no one came forwards to confirm the offer for peace was accepted..." I tried to make myself look annoyed but not furious but I wanted to telegraph I didn't like big kept in the dark like that.
"None of your concern, being of many." The title was new, the guy had my name yet used that...
"How did the Exodites even see me? A potential ally? Distraction to the Orks? Yet another enemy?" I hated not knowing these things. Having a clear idea of what they thought and how to best act around them could be the key to my survival here yet I had nothing. An empty idea to just cast away because nothing really could be done about it.
He made a show of scanning the space behind me before asking. "Where is she?"
"Safe, at the center of the stronghold, and being well taken care of." I said quickly, then thought that perhaps could be strewed as me trying to hide something. "I can bring her out so show she's alright. I won't hurt her as you have Absalom."
I saw little point in lying about those things Of course I would be keen on keeping my hostage at the center of my stronghold. Withholding it would only lose me credibility and he'd figure it out anyway. Better to seem like I was willing to be open and share information. Plus a good little reminder to him that keeping his hostage well cared for would assist in meaning she'll be as well.
He nodded and even seemed to express a far greater interest in that than anything else. A clear indication she was important to him.
"As if that wasn't clear by his willingness to approach me and work out a deal in the first place." I thought.
"I have come to say that... Your attempt at a ceasefire has bore some fruit..."
"But it's either not enough or isn't liable to last... If we come to blows and my hostage becomes useless then so does Absalom by proxy." Something approximating my thoughts crossed my mind as he was quick to follow up his words.
"So long as she remains safe I will guarantee your companion's safety." I didn't doubt the sincerity in his tone, but he was one guy against who knew how many others calling for an attack. I didn't mention that, saw no point, it's not like he could assure me in any way...
Things were quiet as his, friends? Sister? Wife? Rode up on a Hormagaunt, it took a hot minute to coax her out from her slumber and onto the creature. Yet she seemed to sober after catching sight of use. Or more likely just him. They reunited, her hand being taken into his and they spoke softly in Aeldari. Her wound had been healing just fine with me applying the balm and new wraps at the specified time. So I kept my cool as he checked the damage and confirmed everything was alright.
"He pretty much mentioned my attempts at peace are only barely working." They or maybe it was just him who sent that basket? To mull me over and ensure I wouldn't do anything to her. Whatever kept him it until after my assault failed could have been them trying to gauge my strength. Get to know who they're dealing with here.
The Orks were big enough of a threat to where they considered it and haven't attacked me since. It could just be a prelude for later but why not let me just fight the Orks? Enemy against enemy here, okay I knew why someone would think that's a bad idea. The Orks were already a consistent threat out there and losses they endured were just more boyz for later. That crash site clearly had a lot of them already in a nice cozy position and a clever Warboss that lead them... It had to be a Waaagh just looking for a target to unleash on.
A thought occurred to me then. I waited for when they were done expressing their barely concealed elections and concern for one another. "That Warboss is as much of an issue to me as he is to you. Leaving him with that much scrap and that many Orks for such an expended period of time will generate a greater threat. As we both know."
"Of course." He blinked feigning indifference to my words but I ignored it and continued. They had an angle here as Absalom said they would but I couldn't figure it out. So why not create one for them to follow?
"You guys want him dead before he becomes a greater problem. Yet you cannot cause the guy isn't stupid enough to leave without an army. One you can't fight... Correct?"
Yet another shot in the dark, but one that did garner a reaction out of the man. So it might be close enough on the mark. They were Exodites, not defenseless but with the scaring on the land this fight had to have been going on for a while. Exhausting their ability to fight the Orks off their world. Guerilla tactics would only get them so far as Geenskins don't truly have a moral to break.
No, they needed to wipe them out and just lacked the resources. Otherwise, there wouldn't be random Ork camps and bands roaming around like they owned the place. This could also mean the Ork threat was on the rise.
"... You know what happens if the Warboss of the horde dies right?"
He stared at me quizzically.
"Humor me a moment, please." I tagged the polite word to the end certain it would help and he seemed to take greater interest. Perhaps he away did and just feigned to act that way for some reason. This whole thing was another big gamble, but all I could do was throw those dice and just roll with the number they landed on.
"The war band they lead descends into chaos as competing Orks fight for its control."
"We both would very much like that guy dead, because it means a particular cunning Ork won't be an issue."
It didn't take him long to get where was going with this. "Then what do you propose we do about it?"
A confident grin grew on my face. One I was certain didn't look genuine. "Simple, get him over here and we'll kill him."
This whole gamble was based on the idea that the Orks were here first and were the ones responsible for wrecking their world and killing their people. Yes, I had killed some, wounded and taken hostages of one, and was clearly terraforming their world. Yet the Orks were here first and I was banking on the stewing anger against this first invader over the unwelcomed guest in me to galvanize this idea to work together in crippling the Ork threat.
From the way he unfolded his arms and placed them on with hip I knew he wanted that Warboss dead just as much as I did.
"The question is, will the rest of the Exodites share this interest..."
