Chapter 9

Ezekiel and his unit rounded the corner and found themselves staring face to face with the motley group of orks. Ezekiel swiftly strode to meet the Hulk who was at the front of the pack, drawing his bolt pistol as he went. He stared into the face of the enemy as he spoke with an antagonised Zeal. "The path of the righteous Astarte's is beset on all sides by the inequities of the Zeno and the tyranny of the Heretic. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the void of darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brother marines. And you will know I am the sword of the Emperor when I lay my vengeance upon thee."

Ezekiel's exposed head was reduced to paste in the enormous green hand of the Hulk. "Open fire!" the Space-Marine sergeant exclaimed to the rest of the unit. They reacted instantaneously to the command, releasing a hurricane of bolt rounds down the corridor, detonating on the near impenetrable hide of the Hulk. Releasing a bellow comparable to that of an enraged god, the hulk hurled their former commander into the soldiers, sending them scattering in all directions. They regrouped themselves just in time to be descended upon by the rampaging brute. They were slaughtered in mere seconds.

"Well then." Zagnutt pondered. "Looks like dey know wees escaped den." "And if dey got here den day must ave a way for us ta get off!" Kogtoof contributed. "Well whata we waitin for den? Lets get off dis dump!" The now conscious Dugmuk frowned. "But um weres we goin den?" Zagnutt grinned. "Were goin were these guys came from. Coz weezes orks and were meant ta foight and win!"

"Sir, I regret to inform you that we have lost all communications with Ezekiel and his unit. However their craft is to be seen making it's way towards us."

"Well what are you waiting for? Open fire! It has probably been commandeered by the Xenos filth!" Torquemadis snapped impatiently.

"But sir if I were to make a suggestion, I think that it is rather an absurd notion that orks would be able to operate Imperial machinery and their was probably just a communication error and-." He was flusterer and the words became caught in his throat as he saw Torquemadis walking towards him.

"Are you calling me an imbecile?"

"No, no I swear I was just."

There was no mess, the large hole in the middle of his chest had cauterized due to the intense heat put out by the plasma. He collapsed. Torquemadis lay down his favoured weapon and was unnerved to see his hand shaking just in the slightest, the unique physique of the astartes meant that such an occurrence should not even happen. He shook it off and sat on his throne.

"How many are on board?"

"Four"

"A Few must have died down there. A shame." He muttered to himself.

"We'll wait. It wouldn't make sense to waste ammunition when if they do turn out to be the orks they will be slaughtered once on board."

"Couldn't agree more sir." The Marine behind him contributed.

"Whats ta stop dem Blastin us apart eh?" Dugmukk spoke questioningly and not at all anxiously.

"Don't ask me I dunno, dey could be loading up da guns rioght now."

"Well den. I Guess we'll find out anyhow huh?"

"Yea."

"You manage ta salvage any of our weapons?"

"Nah"

Kogtoof pressed a button at random in an attempt to convince himself he knew more of what he was doing. A panel on the wall slid open. "Found some."

They could hear the piercing sound of the ork war cry from halfway across the ship. The doors slid open to reveal the armour plated hulk screaming from the doors towards the battle ready Astarte's. Closely followed by Dugmuk and Zagnut spewing flames into the space-marines. Then was Kogtoof, his kustom force field projecting a sphere of near invulnerability over the three of them.

They cut a bloody path through the Ironclad vessel. Zagnut could feel the entity of Mork flowing through him, guiding him onward and showing him the way to go as long as he believed. "Dis way".

"Ow do you know where ta go?"

"Jus do, now follow moy".

Eventually they found what they, Zagnut, was looking for. The set of giant stylized doors marked the obvious entrance to the guy in charge. The Hulk smashed down the massive doors and the group emerged. On the ground, lying in a pool of his own dark blood, was Torquemadis. Above him, chainsword in hand holding onto Torquemadis's own plasma pistol, was a large space marine. He was wearing Torquemadis's fur cape and had a look of grim satisfaction upon his face, which was a grid of black and red lines. He turned to look and the confused crowd of orks and spoke something incomprehensible. Then, he was gone.

In the command deck of the kurofune, Torquemadis's secondary fleet ship, Estuans Gladio appeared.

"Any word from Torquemadis?"

"No. He's dead."

"Oh"

"Slain by the indomitable ork beast. No doubt they must have taken over the ship by now, you know what to do."

"Yes sir."

On all sides of ship the fleet realigned themselves preparing to fire, awaiting the signal. Explosions peppered the hull of the ship, tearing it apart in a fusillade of cataclysmic weaponry. "We must send warning of these transpiring events and of these new seemingly indestructible monsters, they doubtlessly have more."

"Of course."

However in that very moment a psychic shriek filled the craft and penetrated every mind within it as every astropath perished, bringing all but the staunchest to their knees. Outside the craft a gigantic tear in the very fabric of reality opened and swallowed the vessel in.

Thank you for reading, I appreciate how rushed this probably seemed and yes I had a lot of grammar mistakes. But really, I was just making everything up as I went along. This is why in the next fan-fic I write and in the sequel to this one (yes there's going to be a sequel, I'm going to plan it out much more and I'm going to write a lot of it before posting. Hoped you enjoyed reading it and keep a lookout for the sequel, hint; Purge the Mutant, Inquisition, M-Day?

Thanks,

Lupercial.

P.s Hope you picked up a bit of Pulp Fiction reference there.