"Someone get on that damned heavy bolter!" shouted Savlon over the din of the engines and the crashes of axes against the metal hull. They had entered the battle field three minutes prior and had managed to escape a lot of notice until a rampant bomb squig chased after and blew up a hell hound. The burning wreckage was a beacon to the orks telling them some more combatants had entered the scrap and they weren't friendly.

"Calm down, Savlon," Mathis shouted back, still seated. "The orks won't be able to get through here." There was a loud crash behind Mathis. Peering above him, he saw that an ork's chainaxe was slowly making its way down just inches from his head. He got up quickly and cried, "Someone get on that damned heavy bolter!"

Jarvix was the first to respond and quickly stepped onto the small stool and found himself in the confines of the turret on top of the chimera. The heavy bolter seemed simple enough to operate. There was no clip, only a belt feed from what he assumed was a rather large feeding drum. He rubbed his hands together and found the trigger. He aimed at a mob of orks and squeezed the trigger.

He immediately let go as the world dissolved into white noise. The bark of any bolt weapon was impressive enough, but within a metal shell it was ridiculously loud. After futilely trying to shake the ringing from his ear, he gripped the heavy bolter again and pulled the trigger.

Completely deafened by the noise, he managed to not let go of the trigger. Large explosive shells fired out of the gun rapidly into the ork hordes. Jarvix noted that there were so many orks, that he literally couldn't miss as he would hit something with greenflesh.

Savlon and Mathis were working below with a mobile vox set, trying to make a reasonable attack formation. They had the makings of an arrowhead strike, but with only a few hundred of their vehicles. There were still some seven hundred out of any formation, just trying to survive. There were even chimeras that had let their troops out. The poor bastards were slaughtered in seconds.

"All vehicles, form up! Russes take points, hell hounds behind them! Chimeras form the rear! Do not let them get to the rear armor of our main tanks!" shouted Mathis into the vox unit.

A nearby blast rocked the chimera and through both Mathis and Savlon off their feet. Mathis righted himself and commissar Tikus helped Savlon to his feet. Mathis noticed something was off. A few moments later, he put his finger on it.

"Why in the Emperor's name have we stopped kratting moving!" he demanded.

One of the guardsmen went to the front and shouted back, "The driver's dead, sir!"

"Well, figure out the pedals and get us moving!"

"Right away, sir!" The guardsman sat down on the seat and began fiddling with the controls.

Alarms started blaring inside the chimera. "What tripped the large mass sensors?" Mathis demanded.

Savlon thought for a second and replied, "Maybe the sheer number of orks set it off."

The Jarvix poked his head down to the captain and the general and said flatly, "Maybe it's the gargant that is only a few dozen meters from us."

Mathis and Savlon exchanged a worried look. Savlon called to the new driver, "Get us moving Mitlo!"

"I'm trying my best, sir! I never had vehicle training!"

Savlon turned back to the vox set to reissue the orders when the chimera was lifted off of the ground. Jarvix was thrown from the turret to the floor and all the other soldiers stumbled as the chimera flew from the ground and across the seething mass of green flesh below.

They landed hard, tumbling over orks and unmounted guardsmen. Lasguns and other item were thrown around the cabin, striking the soldiers indiscriminately. Jarvix tried to cover his ears and shut his eyes in a futile attempt to escape the noisy hell that the chimera had become.

The rolling tanks tilted one last time and stopped dead upside down. Mathis groggily awoke and saw the transport in a state of disarray. Savlon was already about, checking pulses on a few of the bodies. Jarvix was in a corner, puking, and the Commissar was checking his weapons. One other guardsman was peering out of the firing slots on the back of the transport.

"Looks like the Gargant is heading this way," the bodyguard reported, "That blast took out two other chimeras and a hell hound. Took out a few dozen orks too."

"Savlon knelt of the ceiling turned floor and sighed, "Everyone who isn't conscious is dead. Now we're hundreds of meters from out armor. I think we are rightly screwed."

Mathis got up and placed a metal hand of Savlon's shoulder. "Think positively. At least we get to die in combat!"

"General, with all due respect, get you're bloody hand off of me," snapped Savlon.

Jarvix grabbed his hell gun and joined the other bodyguard standing at the firing slits.

"I don't think the orks know anyone is alive in here," the other guard said, "We should be alright for a few minutes until we decide what to do." He turned to Jarvix and sized him up, "What's your name?"

"Trooper Olig Jarvix. What about you?"

"Sergeant Till Finruck."

Commissar Tikus appeared behind them. He pointed at the gargant and said, "Look there, plasma burns. The orks here worked out how to use plasma technology."

"Excuse me, sir," Jarvix said, "but could those burns not be from the PDF weapons?"

"No, those are definitely plasma burns and there are no plasma weapons of high enough magnitude to cause burns like those. Also, those burns look like they came from inside the actual gargant. Therefore that gargant is running on plasma."

"And if plasma tech is unstable under Imperium control. . ." started Finruck.

"Then that gargant is a ticking time bomb of plasma." Finished Mathis. "Great observation, commissar! What was your name again?"

"Tikus, sir."

"Tikus, you are getting a promotion, my friend."

"I'm sorry sir, but I can only be promoted by another member of the commissariat of a higher rank than myself."

"Well, aren't you a downer, Tikus."

"I do it for the Emperor, sir. He finds you hopefuls to be damned annoying."

Mathis shot Savlon a look. "Is Tikus always this snarky?"

Savlon glanced at Tikus and looked Mathis in the eye, "No, sir. He's usually worse."

A rather large ork turned to the chimera and walked towards it. It looked into the firing slit, which the men had abandoned once they saw the ork approaching. Trying to stay quiet, the men smelled the stench of rotting meat on the breath of the ork as it spoke in crude low gothic.

"OY!" it boomed, "Any 'oomies in dere? Come out an' fight me!"

Savlon mouthed to the others, "What do we do?"

Everyone was quiet for another second. The ork kicked the chimera with a steel boot, causing the whole tank to ring. "OY! I'z talking to ya! Answer me!"

Jarvix stood and, took a deep breath, and imitated the orks voice perfectly, "HEY! Leave me alone! Dis 'ere is my metal box an' I intend ter keep it!"

The ork stood puzzled for a second then shouted, "Fine den. You'ze sound pretty big, so I'll let you go dis time. Next metal box is mine, ya 'ear me?"

"Of course I 'ear ya, you rotten 'umie lover!"

"HAR! See 'ou on da battle field mate! WAAAAAAAAGH!" It bellowed, leaving the chimera behind, charging at some other unfortunate guardsman.

The others looked at Jarvix in disbelief. Jarvix shrugged and said, "I have a knack for imitating people. And orks, apparently."

Savlon heard a few muffled thumps in his ear and he noticed that Mathis reached for his ear too. The microbeads! He had forgotten. The vox caster was smashed to hell and back, but their microbeads were intact.

Mathis nodded to Savlon and the captian keyed his microbead. "This is Captain Savlon speaking."

"Captain! It's bloddy good to hear from you. We just saw your chimera get tossed about. Are you alright?"

"Banged up a bit, lost most of my squad. Who is this?"

"Tank commander Listan. What are your orders?"

"Listan, do you and your tanks have any armor penetration shells?"

"Yes, sir, we do. What do you want us to fire at?"

"You see that burn mark on the side of the gargant?"

"Yes, sir."

"Blow that spot to the warp."

"Yes, sir!"

Finruck turned to the captain. "Sir, uh, we're roughly a hundred meters from the gargant."

Savlon eyes turned wide. Mathis stood up and said, "Well, I think we can agree that we are dead if we stay here much longer. Let's take a chance with the greenskins."

Mathis turned on his powerfists matter disruption field and cocked his stormbolter. Both Jarvix and Finruck grabbed and shouldered their lasguns. Tikus drew his chainsword and plasma pistol. Savlon drew his hellpistol and slammed the open hatch button.

The hatch unlocked with an audible click, but stood in place. Mathis shot Savlon a questioning look. Savlon shrugged. Tikus turned to him, "Savlon, we are upside down. Gravity is not going to open the hatch like it should. Maybe you should detonate the hatch charges."

"Oh, right." Savlon hit the charge buttons. There was a muffled explosion and the hatch flew open, letting the dim light into the chimera. Jarvix and Finruck ran out of the chimera and gunned down several boys near the hatch that were dazed by the explosion.

Mathis followed them, firing his stormbolter at a nob wearing a horned helmet. The nob roared at him and ignored the fist sized wound that were appearing in its flesh at a quick pace. It fired its crude gun at the general, but missed. The bullets ricocheted off of the chimera and hit an unlucky grot, killing it instantly.

The nob charged with a bunch of other orks. Jarvix and Finruck fired into the smaller orks, killing a few. Tikus had came out of the chimera and fired his plasma pistol at one of the larger orks, turning its head into a chunk of charred flesh. Savlon raised his hellpistol and shot a bolt through an orks leg, but the ork kept charging despite the wound.

Mathis fired into the mob surrounding the orks, killing another two. His stormbolter clicked dry. The clip fell to the ground as he released it, but by then the nob was on him. It brought its huge axe down in a blow meant to cleave Mathis in two. Mathis instinctively blocked with his powerfist, which destroyed the axe head. The handle still hit Mathis with the force of a mag-train and he staggered backwards.

Jarvix hellgun went dry seconds after Mathis lost his stormbolter. He drew his warknife and charged a nearby ork. The ork tried to decapitate him, but he duck and shoved his knife into the orks belly. Intestines spilled from the dying ork as another came around and punched Jarvix in the gut.

Jarvix fell back, the wind knocked from him. The ork raised its axe to kill him, but a lasbolt went through its head. Savlon was kneeling, firing shot after shot into the orks. Finruck had gone dry and reloaded, firing into the shrinking mob. Jarvix reached behind him and picked up his hellgun. He quickly shoved a new clip into it and added his fire into the mob.

Mathis was struck yet again by the handle of the axe he had destroyed. The nob roared at the loss of his weapon and clawed at Mathis, drawing several large lines of blood. Mathis retaliated with a blow to the chest with his powerfist. Part of the ork's chest disappeared in a puff of vaporized blood. The ork roared in pain and kicked Mathis over before dying.

Mathis tried to get up when two grots jumped on top of him. The child-sized greenskins brandished small knives and stabbed Mathis. One knife broke when the grot tried to stab the metal arm. The other found Mathis' calf, tearing flesh and muscle. Mathis howled in pain and crushed the grot's head with his powerfirst. The other bit Mathis' nose, causing blood spurt out, covering both of them. Mathis felt his nose break and start to tear. The grot disappeared in a red mist.

A man in a heavy black leather jacket appeared and offered his hand to the general. Mathis took it and got to his feet. The others had dispatched the leftover orks in the mobs. Mathis scanned the battlefield and saw that in the combat, they had managed to move twenty meters from the Chimera. He was shocked both at how far he had gotten and how close they still were. He turned to his savior and noticed he was wearing a pointed cap like Tikus was. "Thank you for that. What is your name, soldier?"

"Lord Commissar Krakin, at your service."

"Lord Commissar? When I read your name on the data pad earlier today, it said you were a Junior Commissar."

"I was promoted by the late Lord Commissar Ounis, Emperor rest his soul. The data pad you received contained outdated information."

Mathis looked over the Lord Commissar's shoulder and saw several thousand troopers pouring fire into the ork ranks. "I see you have brought friends."

"Yes, I have. We need to get your troops to the walls now. We've managed to clear a path."

"Ok, tell my men that. Talk to a commander Listan and tell him that this orders comes from me. I assume you have a vox caster. He should be using frequency delta bravo niner."

"Right away." The commissar saluted and moved to his troops. The gargant was moving away now, some four hundred meters now. The ground shook with every step it took. The great metal beast was rippling with explosions as several dozen Leman Russes fired high explosive shells at it. The gargant swayed under the onslaught and started to tip over.

"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" screamed Mathis as the gargant's left side tipped past the point of no return. The ork craft fell to the side, toward a large portion of the ork horde where thankfully, no guardsmen or PDF troopers were.

Screams of orks filled the air, mixing with the shriek of metal as the gargant met the ground. It seemed like the entire planet was shaking. Several PDF troopers near Mathis fell to the ground from the shaking. Mathis was thrown a foot in the air and landed unsteadily on his feet.

After a few seconds, the shaking stopped. The PDF cheered as the orks retreated, having lost their symbol of war and monument to their god. Mathis quickly got on the vox caster near him and gave orders to chase the ork and try to cut them off. The fleeing orks were easily slaughtered by the hundreds. At the end of the day, reports were coming in of nearly two hundred thousand dead orks and only three hundred guardsmen and PDF troopers dead.

That night, the remaining orks retreated from the hive. The siege was successfully broken in one day. Throughout the hive cities of the free continent, people cheered for the might of the Imperium and the heroic general that won the day for Maklis Hive.