Oggrod Skarbad Warboss of the Toof Raiders grumbled about his poor luck.

His Blood Axes had worked out a great scheme of demanding Tribute in the form of guns, boyz and ships from the minor Ork worlds in the region to increase their numbers in between the occasional WAAGH!
It had worked so well that it had been more than a century since they'd had to work as mercenaries for the Imperium.

He'd fully expected the local Warboss of this planet to put up a serious fight this time so he'd come prepared. The Boyz were all ready for a fight but not one like this.

"The bloomin humies zogged most of me fleet! Now I've got me a whole Waaagh to rebuild!"

As one Warboss he'd fought for long ago had said, always have your tunnels dug and ready. He'd teleported off the Rok along with a few hundred of his toughest Nobz, Meks and weirdboys. Especially the weirdboys.

As long as they were still alive everything would always turn up green.

"Oi, find me tha Mek running the WAAAGH down 'ere! We'z got to have a talk 'bout who iz biggest round 'ere."


Lavidean Atar prepared to teleport into orbit along with the rest of the company. They were going to need every second of the close combat training he'd given them over the past few weeks for fighting aboard a starship. Especially ones as small as these dark ager's used.

They were still children, but at the same time they were the best that was available. It was a good thing most of them learned quickly.

Engineers and Techs on the base were scrambling to divert all of the available "Terminator" armor to the company barracks. For now the third of the force that was ready with heavier gear would be going up on their own.

"No rapid beamers, take short range or melee weapons only." Atar ordered the others as they moved to take their places on the teleport pads.

"That doesn't leave us with many options." pointed out Vadith as her teams took their place for the second wave.

The others in the former Marine's squad quickly equipped a weapon he was unfamiliar with.

"What are those?" he asked, while the crews locked onto the teleporters on the Frigate.

"Something from the database called a Volkite beam. It's supposed to be similar to the vehicle mounted disintegrator."

There was no time to comment before they vanished from the pad.

An instant later the three humans in Terminator armor appeared near the Frigate's engineering section. At least six orks were in the viscinity, trading fire with several crew members. None of them took note of the new arrivals until Lavidean activated the power fields around his close combat weapons and shouted as loud as the vox amplifiers would let him;

"SPACE MARINES, ATTACK!"


Elsewhere in the ship the more poorly equipped members of the crew retreated to strong points and designated safe areas. Four scrambled into the main Medbay then locked the door behind them.

"Plasma pistols are behind the desk." Said the old Doctor.
He soon stepped into the main room clad in a suit of light armor trying to adjust some of the connectors.

Grabbing the weapons the junior crewmen took positions behind medical consoles and beds, training them on the main entryway. There was a tremendous bang on the door which was soon followed by several others as the orks attempted to break through the armored door. Surprisingly they seemed to be making quite a dent in it.

Montoya shook his head. "This is why you may attention during the boarding drills children."

Reaching up he pulled a latch built into the ceiling near the door. A two meter long panel descended enough to expose a large piece of equipment sporting several hand holds along it's length. As the Doctor pulled it down level with his chest they saw that it was suspended by an armature and connected by several power cables.

Montoya grabbed a trigger housing and activated the weapon, pointing it towards the door. When the Orks broke through a moment later they were met with a hail of flat but wide blue beams that lashed out of the weapon's end, chopping them to pieces.

For good measure the Doc maintains fire until there's no doubt that the Orks are well and truely dead.

"What is that?"

"Ranged power field projector. Not terribly useful I'm afraid. They only have a range of a few meters."

A Grot peeks around the edge of the doorway and has it's head blown off by a burst of fire.

"Still occasionally useful."


"With all due respect sir, why would you announce your attack?" asked one of the Chaplain's squad mates.

Ignoring the question, Lavidean carved his way through another Ork with his pair of powerfists. The model these Dark Ager's used had flat almost shovel like finger, each sharp enough to punch most of the way through an Ork's body even without the power fields activated.
The pair of built in plasma pistols made then tremendously useful, able to put out almost as much ranged fire as a Space Marine Tactical Squad.

The Orks were beginning to catch on that they had real competition aboard and cries of "Beakies!" were beginning to echo through sections they still occupied.

"Oi humies, where's yer beakies at? I'm looking fer a real fight!" proclaimed a voice over the ship's intercom.

"How did they-"
"Not important." Concluded the former Marine, charging towards the section the HUD showed the signal had come from.

"We have a problem." announced Sinite.
"A Nob is holding two wounded crewmen hostage in deck four's port side access corridor. If we simply shoot him he'll crush them death."

Checking the auspex feeds from that section he saw part of the problem. A Mega Armoured Nob.

"Gimme a REAL fight or I'm gonna sqash em!" He taunted.

A nearby Grot had ripped open the ship's communications systems and wired them up to work for the Ork.

While the Dark ager's undoubtedly were holding off on killing the Ork in the hopes of saving more of their people he was reluctant to simply kill it from range as it bought time for crews to clear the rest of the ship unopposed.

"Lavidian to base camp, I need a Thunder Hammer."

Elgar Dorst was soon on the com channel having been monitoring the state of the teams from the ground. While he may not venerate his equipment as a Techpriest would, the engineer always kept tabs on his precious suits of power armor.
"I'm sorry Chaplain, you need a what?"
"A Warhammer! With a power field! Lock on to my teleport beacon and send it to me."

Seconds later a weapon materialized in the air in front of him and he grabbed hold of the handle. It had a number of superficial similarities to a Thunder Hammer but this had what looked like a pile driver built into the head.

"This... is not a Thunder Hammer."
Swinging it experimentally against a dead Ork the power field activated, along with the pile driver. Built in grav lift systems drove the impactor into the target with many times the force he expected.
"...though I can't deny its effectiveness.

Stepping into the hallway Lavidian moved past one of the members of ship security guarding this end of the hall.

"Sir, you're blocking our line of fire."
"That was my intention." he replied then cranked up the volume of his voxcaster.
"I'll give you a fight to remember Ork! Or are you afraid to face one of the Emperor's Angels of Death?"

An immense grin spread across the Ork's face at the challenge.
"HA! You sure got a Beakie's mouth on ya! Let's 'ave a good scrap! WAAAGH!"


As the fleet retreated out of weapons range of the remaining Ork fleet the bridge crew's attention shifted to the situation with the enemy boarders.

"Did he really just challenge an Ork to single combat?" asked Sinite.
Synthesized or not, the note of incredulity in AI's voice was clear to everyone present.

Nearly all eyes were on the displays as the two warriors crashed against one another. Power claws tried to rend through human while thunder hammer crashed against Ork armour plate and hydraulics. Soon the fighting was nothing but a blur to anyone but the AI.

It wasn't until a solid hit to the Ork's jaw broke the surrounding armor and removed about half of its teeth and tusks that the two distanced themselves long enough for something of a breather.

Just long enough for the MegaNob to spit out teeth and blood and for Lavidean to realise himself had been badly wounded. Part of the chest armor was collapsed puncturing parts of his body beneath it. Were he still a Space Marine the wound would have been laughable. Most Battle brothers easily shrugged off wounds like these for hours until an apothecary could see to them.

The suit's advanced medical suite was doing what it could to repair the damage but in order to heal him it needed to jettison the external protective plate. If he kept fighting he might be dead in minutes, but then so might the now badly mangled Ork.

Time for a desperate gamble.

After increasing blood oxygenation to make up for a rapidly flooding lung he charged back in, throwing the Thunder Hammer at the last moment.

The Nob managed to get out confused, "WHA-" before the thrown weapon smacked him in the face.

Grabbing either of the stunned Ork's arms to help pull him forward, the Marine slammed his helmet into the mangled green mess that remained of it's face for good measure. Pulling back he kept his grip on the arms, put one boot to the MegaNob chest piece then pulled with all his remaining strength.

The sound of tearing metal filled the section followed by that of tearing flesh as he ripped both of the arms off. Dropping the limbs and stumbling away he filled the crippled Ork with plasma pistol fire.

Others were rushing to his aid as the smoking remains of the Nob hit the deck. Although it only took seconds Atar had already lost consciousness by the time they teleported him to the Medbay.