A/N- Orc Empire I has not reached this point yet so expect spoilers for that story ahead. This chapter also features two characters from that story. Also there's a small time jump from the previous chapters as the first two chapters happen over a 4 year period, the third chapter, which is set after chapter 2, has a time skip of several weeks in the middle of the chapter during which Chapter 4 takes place. I hope that clears the timeline up a bit for people.
Chapter 5- The Shadow Behind The Curtain (1)
IC Era 6 y5 July 20-21
Gromgor had had a long day fighting the forces of a minor renegade warlord. All around him were the mangled corpses of Greenskins and men, their blood sprayed all over the walls of the government building he was currently sitting in. His soldiers were currently scouring the building and the surrounding area for any sign of the enemy, intent on their complete destruction.
"What has happened to the scum? I want them at my feet, begging for mercy." Gromgor bellowed.
"It appears they have fled to a more defensible perimeter on the island. Our forces are attacking but they're being rebuffed repeatedly." One of Gromgor's generals reported. At Gromgor's glare, the general gestured for a series of monitors to be wheeled into the government building and into the government chamber they were currently in. The live feed on each of the monitors showed that Gromgor's forces, despite facing an inferior enemy, were being held at bay by a heavily defended defence line, where they were channelled by numerous mountain paths and roads. The renegade warlord's base itself was protected from air attack and naval bombardment as it was located inside a cave system.
"So what we need... is combat multipliers? What's available?" Gromgor questioned.
"We have three FlammPanzer battalions, three assault gun battalions, fifteen combat pioneer battalions and four commando battalions at our immediate disposal sir." One of Gromgor's senior commanders responded.
"Regroup our forces for another assault and send all the specialist battalions to the combat units. I want the commando battalions however to find routes to infiltrate their outer defence lines. Hopefully we can then envelop those defences and capture their base." Gromgor ordered, an evil grin marking his face.
As it turned out, the renewed attack was forced back after initially breaching the perimeter. Gromgor's forces initially made good progress, capturing a number of bunkers and trenches and forcing a number of narrow penetrations across the entire defence line. Thinking that the end was near, Gromgor ordered his forces forward but came across fresh units. His forces then endured withering fire continuing the attack for several hours but were forced to withdraw back to their start lines. Gromgor was forced to abandon several hundred wounded to the enemy in order to prevent a total defeat.
Gromgor returned from the frontlines bitter and seething in rage. In his rage, he failed to notice that there were two visitors to his headquarters. When he had let off some steam, he finally noticed his two visitors; a human boy and a somewhat smartly dressed Greenskin with some visible scars.
Gromgor drew a massive sword and a smaller axe and pointed them at the two. "Who are you two?" Spies?" He questioned them angrily.
"We see you need assistance to conquer the island. We're here to offer that assistance." The greenskin said to Gromgor.
"And what do you want in exchange? It's never just an offer of help. No normal Greenskin would dare assist a potential rival without having an ulterior motive." Gromgor replied to the unusual Greenskin.
"Our Master would help you. Our force is infiltrating their base as we speak, however they will not attack unless you agree to one thing." The human boy said to Gromgor, a small smirk on his face.
"That is...what?" Gromgor asked hesitatingly.
"Agree to receive a private phone call from our master. He has a number of proposals for you." The Human boy said in a tone that made Gromgor think he was older than he looked.
"I've already made the connections secure. You will not be listened to by enemy operatives." The slightly scarred Greenskin said confidently.
"You seem remarkably certain of your abilities." Gromgor noted.
"I used to be in Outer Heaven intelligence. I am certain there have been no mistakes with the set up."
"Used to be? You're with a renegade warlord, aren't you?" Gromgor said accusingly.
"If only you knew. Our master plots his return to the old world but is currently securing his position in his new homeland."
The boy interrupted aggressively, "Look, do you want the help or not?"
Gromgor took a minute to make up his mind, "Okay, I will accept your help. If for no other reason than I am curious as to who the identity of your master is."
"I'm glad. Rebuild your units and ready to attack by dawn." The Greenskin said happily.
Gromgor scoured his repair workshops for replacement vehicles and artillery while his commanders scoured the rear areas for every spare soldier they could find. They were able to reconstitute the decimated assault units in time for the new attack and furthermore, they had managed to scrape together a reduced infantry regiment to reinforce the attack. The Human boy and the Greenskin informed Gromgor that they were awaiting his signal to attack and he in turn told them that he wanted to draw out the enemy reserves first before their attack.
The final attack commenced as the previous attack had done. Commando units infiltrated through the perimeter and attacked the defences simultaneously with the forces attacking from the front. Having breached the defences again, Gromgor lured the enemy reserves away from their base which enabled his new allies to attack the base with little resistance. The renegade warlord attempted to escape but was badly wounded in the attempt and became a prisoner. Realising that they were surrounded, the warlord's forces surrendered en mass.
Feeling satisfied with the victory, Gromgor returned to his headquarters.
Seeing the boy and the former Outer Heaven Intel agent at his headquarters, he shook their arms in gratitude and they went to sit down in some nearby leather chairs.
"He'll call any minute. You may not recognise the voice but you'll probably recognise the speech pattern." The Greenskin said knowingly. Gromgor looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"He did speak incredibly highly of you during my lessons with him." The boy added with a smile. "Call you his best friend, he did." Gromgor had his suspicions raised of who their master was but was not certain of anything these days.
The Greenskin spoke to him with a smirk on his face, "Our names are Drageck and Charlie. I'm sure you can figure out who is who."
Gromgor looked at the pair with what initially appeared to be a frown but the strange pair saw that his lips were about to break out into a smile.
"Well, I've got a good reading on him." Gromgor said, pointing to the Greenskin then pointed at the human boy, "Let's see if I can guess where you come from?"
"Go on then. Give it a shot!" The Boy replied enthusiastically.
Gromgor stared at the boy intently, taking in every detail, every movement. He then took a sniff of the air, finding out what he could from the smells he could scent. Gromgor smirked at the boy and had a small alcoholic drink. "Right I think I have you nailed down." Gromgor declared confidently.
"Go on. Impress me." Charlie replied excitedly, feeling entertained by the experience.
"Let's see. You were born in Bretonnia. Educated but not part of the nobility. That tells me that you're most likely middle-class, not that the Bretonnia nobility would recognise the difference between those people and those they deem peasants. You've had some parts of your body modified, probably to make you more viable a breeder. I smell the scent of your family on your person and it's clear that you've recently...made use of them. From what little you've shown, I can tell you're a Greenskin admirer and you used to be part of a secret society at your old school, The Heaven's Student Club. Also a keen student of military strategy as I figure the infiltration behind the enemy lines was your idea and... Drageck here just fleshed the idea out. Am I correct?" Gromgor said with a sense of superiority.
Charlie and Drageck nodded and slowly clapped at the former right hand of the Orc Emperor. "Pretty much to a tee. My master understated your impressiveness if anything." Charlie said, feeling very impressed by Gromgor's accurate deductions.
Before the group could talk about anything else, a phone rang. The three looked at each other with a sense of nervousness. "It'll be for you. We'll be in the room as he may want to talk to us." Drageck said somewhat sombrely.
Gromgor picked up the phone and slowly raised the phone to his ear. He gulped in nervousness and spoke down the phone, "Hello?"
"Hello my old friend. Kept you waiting, huh?" The Voice on the other end said in a pleasant manner. "I would never leave you without assistance. I may have changed again but I still remember when we first met all those years ago and what we did since then. Trapping and breaking that Chaos army between your infantry and my cavalry and then when the times changed we bombed the island of blood, do you remember?"
"Samgon?" Gromgor replied in a shocked tone to the voice on the phone, rare tears streaming down his face. Gromgor never cried before that moment of realisation hit him. He'd long suspected his old friend's survival but he didn't have his evidence until now.
A/N- So if it wasn't obvious before, this story and Orc Empire I are somewhat heavily linked. I'm thinking I might put timelines during important moments of my stories in the style of how the Metal Gear series, especially the later games, implements their timelines. It's just a thought at this moment though. There will be more plot points from my other stories raised during the next chapter and beginning to sow seeds for potential future stories.
A/A/N- There will be chapters coming up in this story that should be read as if one was reading a book on a military campaign. That's why there will be a chapter that explains certain types of military formations coming within a day or two.
Please Review and I hope you enjoy this chapter.