Episode 6: The Green Tide

Chapter 5: WAAAGH Back At Ya (Part 1)

"I've got to know a great deal more about these green fungal creatures over the last century or so, since that first disconcerting encounter, and one thing I've seen time and time again is that dismissing them as simple, unsophisticated brutes is a fast route to the graveyard (or sometimes their stomachs.)"

-Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi

The Orks were not a new phenomenon plaguing the Galactic Republic. These green-hued monsters had as a matter of fact fought in battles with countless civilizations across space and time, and any species that developed the capability of interstellar travel, even of the most rudimentary kind possible, was inevitably going to encounter them.

Turning people INTO Orks, however, was a totally different concept, one that was all but unknown until the Siege of Gordasha.

The Republic veterans protecting the Forge World from the onslaught were totally unaware that these particular Greenskins were all either former humans or former humanoid beings. Perhaps that ignorance was for the best, because the carnage would continue to draw on with no signs of stopping, and the chain of command was unexpectedly thrown into complete disarray- there was so much chaos going on, giving disciplined orders was nigh impossible, even for the important commanders of the Crimson Jaegers.

The warriors aboard Randland Station in Gordasha's orbit had all barricaded themselves into the starship hangar, aiming to kill as many charging Orks as possible by saturating the garage entrance with heavy weapons fire.

Of course, this strategy possessed a brilliant hidden advantage- the belligerent Orks were naturally drawn towards the large assembly of Republic troops in the hangar, seeking a good fight, and probably wouldn't even bother to consider the option of blowing up the space station from the inside, much less prevent the defenders from launching combat spacecraft into the void to blitz the horde's space fleet.

Raising her machine-gun polearm hybrid high over her head, Thianna Frostborn led the counterattack, with her allies blasting every ugly green beast in sight.

"On my command, UNLEASH HELL!"

And everybody certainly did.

On and on, the Orks came to fight and to die, trying to get within engagement range so they could return fire with their inaccurate, unreliable guns, (which were literally made of scrap metal.) Even the most heavily armored Greenskin infantry units were utterly eviscerated by a fusillade of solid projectiles, directed-energy shots, bolts of magic, chemical munitions, incendiary devices and explosive ordnance.

Anakin's telekinetic Force powers and Keyleth's Druid magic proved especially potent, with the fungal foe getting smashed by huge chunks of flying rubble falling from the ceiling and ripped apart by rapidly accelerating vines, roots and cacti torn from the greenhouse.

Taking full advantage of his precise, superlative pitching skills, Ziggs hurled grenades and satchel charges like baseballs, while a squad of Confederate commando droids wielded heavy-duty portable lascannons, vaporizing a dozen Orks with every shot.

Noelle even climbed inside her Battlemech, which was surprisingly unscathed, and controlled the field of battle by eradicating anything green that managed to somehow get through the crosshairs of her companions.

Millions of Orks were killed aboard Randland Station, their bodies disintegrating and leaving no trace behind, not even fungal spores- perhaps a key weakness the heroes could exploit, if it wasn't for the ludicrous abundance of enemy combatants. No, this part of the horde was but a drop in the ocean compared to its true numbers.

Things made a turn for the worse when Orkish armored vehicles started making their way through the massive hole in the wall, including War Trukks, Warbuggies, Deff Dreads, and a few heavy Battlewagons.

The thick plasteel and ceramite plating on these war engines was somehow able to repair itself, almost as if the layers of armor could regenerate at will. Such a feature made them extremely difficult to destroy, and it took at least 5 minutes of densely concentrated firepower to blow up each enemy vehicle- costing the heroes precious time.

This "nanobot repair system" was to be just one of many diabolical tricks Vecna's army would employ against the guardians of democracy.

The Republic commandos started to suffer casualties, as hundreds of Ork firearms scored a bullseye, clone troopers, guardsmen and colonial marines getting instantly torn to pieces by the storm of dakka. Indeed, the barricade provided protection from most of the Ork projectile weapons, but it did not span across the entire hangar bay, and there were numerous gaps in the armor segments.

Anakin was drenched in the blood of both his allies and his enemies, and everyone around him was engaged in a mad struggle for survival.

This was just the beginning of that struggle, though.

Right when he thought things couldn't get any worse, a massive explosion rocked the whole station and knocked everybody aboard off their feet!

The surrounding area was wracked with white-hot flames, and the Orks began heading away from the spacecraft hangar, ignoring their previous victims and focusing on a new goal, as if directed by a hive mind.

Sidon knew exactly what was happening.

"Randland Station is falling apart! The enemy fleet must be opening fire on us!"

As he said that, Republic troops started to make haste for transport vessels, avoiding the flames and abandoning their positions.

"Why do you think the Orks are ignoring us now?," Keyleth asked, in the midst of the storm.

Ziggs thought about the possibilities, then panicked.

"Hold on a second... Oh, no! They're going to seek out the station's hypermatter power plant reactor, and blow it up, which would not only kill all of us aboard, but also destroy the entire orbital battle network! And as Sidon pointed out, Randland Station is already under heavy fire. We need to get out of here, right the F now!"

The group tried to make their way onto a Lambda-class shuttle transport, the very last one inside the service garage, but the pilot was exceptionally selfish and took off without them, ditching his superiors in an attempt at preserving his own life as well as the lives of his passengers.

"Stupid asshole!," Thianna shouted, loud enough for the others to hear her over the raging noise of battle. "You're gonna get killed by the Orks eventually, just like the rest of us!"

"Don't say that!," Noelle snapped. "Now look, there's gotta be another way out of here. We just have to rely on our ingenuity."

"To be honest, I don't think we'll survive an exploding space station without something like an escape pod to help us," Keyleth said grimly. "What if this is it, and our time in this life has come to an end?"

Then, an unexpected voice chimed in: The eloquent sea otter diplomat.

"Actually, I have a little something prepared that's going to save us all," Monty told his new companions, who he had faced death with, side by side. "Just be ready to vomit, because it'll make your insides feel incredibly heavy!"

The others stared at him like he was joking.

Monty clearly wasn't, though, because he already had some kind of gadget in his paws.

He pushed a button on a mechanical glove of sorts, and in the blink of an eye, the party was safely teleported out of the rapidly collapsing space station, landing safely on the concrete ground of an airfield, allowing them to escape death... for now.

The successful escape did come with a caveat, though- everyone except for Monty was briefly retching on the pavement, due to the unexplainable side effects of being teleported through a different dimension meant to be exclusively used by one species. It wasn't the kind of common, reliable and safe teleportation device the Republic commonly used aboard its immense naval starships, but it did the trick, preventing the heroes from meeting an explosive demise.

Anakin looked up and saw that the sky was beginning to fill with burning debris, falling from the upper atmosphere of Gordasha, without a doubt evidence that the Orks were coming close to winning the space battle and making planetfall. He made haste for the shelter on the outskirts of the airfield, as did his companions.

Once everybody was inside, they immediately noticed that they were far from alone- Dr. Heimerdinger, the hairy Yordle scientist from before, had survived the battle aboard Randland Station, and he was accompanied by several squads of Republic super-soldiers, including Spartan-IIs, Astartes of various Legions, Mandalorian commandos, and hired mages from the Forgotten Realms.

Heimerdinger delivered the latest intel to the recent arrivals:

"Well hello there, lucky lads. It's a relief to see that you survived. My calculations estimate that the Orkish invasion army is already in the process of assembling massed concentrations of ground troops for deployment, along with heavy artillery and armored units. I fear our defenses may be inadequate. Nevertheless, we need to form a plan of counterattack, even though our chances of success are slim. If there's anything new that you need to know about our current predicament, ask me now. Then, we take action as soon as possible."

"The gremlin with the goggles is a lot more intelligent than he looks," a Mandalorian soldier said. "Whatever questions you have about those green bastards, he'll answer them."

Fittingly, Anakin had only one question.

"Where do we head next if we want to put the biggest dent in the horde?"

"The Grand Core armaments factory is where the largest portion of our forces is amassing, for the sake of safeguarding the Republic's most valuable military assets from the grubby hands of the Orks," Heimerdinger answered. "You'd better head there now, the sooner the better, using these troop carriers over here. Take all these super-commandos with you, too. As for me, I'll remain in this bunker, contacting every source of reinforcements I can reach."

"Your wisdom is much appreciated," said Monty. "As for me, I'm here to start diplomatic negotiations with some of the Republic's leaders, that is, if we survive this siege. May the Force be with us."

Wasting no time, every person climbed into an open-topped, AI-driven Separatist troop transport, originally intended for conveying battle droids, and sped away from the airfield. They eventually reached a city street surrounded by abandoned buildings and vehicles- the civilians were all hiding in the nearly endless system of catacombs beneath Gordasha's surface, meant to protect from a planetary invasion.

Up ahead was Grand Core, the most important factory complex in the entire sector, which is to say it provided a big enough industrial output to support the economy of every world within a 100 light-year radius. To merely call it productive was an understatement of the highest order.

Predictably, enormous battalions of armored vehicles, combat walkers and anti-gravity tanks were stationed on the outskirts of the manufacturing plant, and the defenses just got thicker and thicker as Anakin's mounted squads progressed deeper within the area.

Would this sanctum hold up against the inevitable Greenskin threat? It depended entirely on how many Orks Vecna had created with his unwilling test subjects.

An immense, heavily fortified checkpoint gate was established all around the inner perimeter to prevent any invaders from reaching the actual interior of the Grand Core Factory. The guards patrolling it were all Giffs- humanoid hippopotamuses whose entire culture revolved around mercenary work, warfare, and general conflict. The benefits of keeping these bulky, bloodthirsty lunatics around as reserve shock troops largely outweighed the negative effects of all the problems they caused on civilized planets.

Yes, the same hippo people from Spelljammer DND are also here too.

One particularly large Giff, a hippo man carrying a heavy bolter that fired miniature rocket-propelled grenades on full auto, was in charge of letting people in and out of the complex. He spoke to Anakin's group in a unique accent that those on the other side of the fourth wall would describe as sounding like a Black American from the Deep South.

"Hold on, aren't you the Crimson Jaegers mercenary group, the ones who were in charge of the orbital bastion? I recognize some of you. How'd you survive when Randland Station was boarded and then blown up? Eh, it doesn't matter now. You're here. And we need all the help we can get if we're to survive this crisis. Intel says that the Orks are almost done obliterating the rest of the defensive structures in orbit. Within a few hours, they'll blot out the sun with their landing craft. You'd best come inside if you want to keep staying alive. Oh, and as for my name, I go by Captain Merik, siegecraft specialist."

"Very well then, Captain Merik," Sidon said. "I'm glad to be fighting alongside you. Let us in and we'll spend the last few hours we have left discussing how to humble the horde."

Inside the final sanctum:

Once again, Anakin Skywalker had to depend on his skills as a general. Whatever gambit he employed here would determine the outcome of the siege.

"We don't have very much time, but here's the plan, for all of us here: We know how Orks generally think. They'll follow the biggest, meanest and most capable individual in sight. So we're gonna deprive them of their leadership, striking a blow precisely aimed at their command structure."

"Our armored vehicle battalions will distract the majority of the Greenskin infantry and mechanized units, and allow our more elite forces to take out key targets, like Warbosses, Warlords, and Warchiefs. But at the same time, we shouldn't underestimate our foe."

"My master, Obi-Wan, knew that dismissing the Orks as simple, unthinking and straightforward brutes was a fatal mistake. They're smarter than we give them credit for. For all we know, the Dark Lord Vecna could have empowered them with additional knowledge in tactics, logistics and overall battlefield strategy."

"The odds may certainly be against us, but if Gordasha falls, the consequences will damage the Republic's infrastructure, PERMANENTLY. We may not live to tell the tale, but it's better to die fighting for something you believe in than to live the rest of your life as a slave to tyranny. We cannot fail. Failure is not an option. Does anyone have anything to say before we march, together?"

Nobody said anything, indicating that Anakin had made his point clear.

Then, Ziggs raised his paw.

"What is it?," Anakin asked.

"This might make us feel even more justifiably terrified and afraid than we already are, but I need to address the elephant in the room. It's the numbers game. How many innocent people did Vecna put into creating each individual Ork? Because if it's just one person for every Greenskin warrior, we are totally screwed. After all, tens of billions were sacrificed in the ritual that wiped out Tertius."

The crowd of Republic commandos was shocked and horrified by this revelation, which was saying something, since all of them were used to witnessing death, suffering, atrocities, and general douchebaggery on a weekly basis. Was it really true that someone had learned to convert the biomass of sentient beings into making bloodthirsty Orks? And the recent mass disappearance at Tertius was somehow caused by this dark form of alchemy? It hardly seemed believable, yet that was exactly what happened.

Ziggs' statement was proven and confirmed when the earth itself started to violently shake with the stomping of billions of combat boots, the Green Tide flooding out from thousands of portals that Vecna had summoned, most likely an evil prototype version of the Stargates the Republic used.

Anakin could sense the presence of foes beyond count, thanks to the Force, as could anyone else in the room who had a connection to a magic system. The horde engulfed Gordasha's entire northern hemisphere and completely surrounded Grand Core and its outer city layers.

The only good news was that all the civilians were safely evacuated to the catacombs and tunnels deep beneath the surface of the planet, but they wouldn't remain safe for long. Everyone knew what was about to happen, and it seemed like the defense of the Forge World was a lost cause.

Thianna stomped over to an observation computer screen, monitoring the situation outside the factory, and her face turned pale with dread. Not because she was afraid of dying, but because she and everyone else were going to die, and as a consequence, her career of traveling the realms to seek out challenges and strong opponents was going to end, forever.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHY ARE THE ODDS ALWAYS STACKED AGAINST US?! Then again, it'll be more fun that way... gotta look on the bright side of things."

"Well, it was nice knowing all of you," Noelle said. "This is a mess too big even for a housekeeping knight maid like myself to clean up."

But then Anakin remembered something, a detail that seemed too ludicrous to be true, due to it being hopeful. Also, he broke the fourth wall while telling everyone about it.

"Hold on... remember back in the first chapter of this episode, when I was seeking out a certain someone in the Jedi Order who could help bring additional aid here? I think we have one more ace up our sleeve."

"Oh, please!," Keyleth said. "Even if someone did bring reinforcements, who could they possibly bring that would make a difference? The only factor that would seriously affect the Orks' numbers advantage would be a superabundance of elemental magic powers, since that's the most efficient way at breaking down fungal biomass, apart from biological weapons of mass destruction... which is not an option, obviously."

"We can't wait," Monty grumbled. "The mushroom men are already here and will be knocking on our door within minutes. This is IMPOSSIBLE."

Then an unexpected voice heard from the ceiling joined the conversation of desperation:

"Impossible is not a word in the Jedi vocabulary, my friend."

"Who said that?!," Sidon hissed.

Suddenly, the roof of the building opened up, and a BTL Y-Wing starfighter descended into the large war room where everyone was standing.

It was a two-seater fighter bomber, with a twin swiveling turret gun, rotary missile launchers, customized plasma turbofan engines, a blue and gold paint scheme, and unique Chinese characters written on the side, that translated to "Jade Dragon," or Lin Yulong (in Pinyin.)

The cockpit hatch opened, and a familiar blue-skinned, red-haired, attractive and exquisite alien woman leaped out in an aerial somersault, landing nimbly on her feet like a cat. A lightsaber strapped to her hip proved her allegiance and occupation, and as usual, her outfit of choice exposed a considerable amount of her skin.

"Oh, am I glad to see you, Beidou!," Anakin exclaimed. "You finally made it! And you're still insisting on wearing a tube top, a mechanic's scarf and torn up jeans, even on Greenskin D-Day."

"Not only that," the Tau Jedi replied, "but I brought my Master with, too! Plus a whole bunch of other people he recruited, who all share one thing in common with the Orks... they really like to get stuck in a good fun fight."

Beidou's mentor and adoptive father, Gale Amaranth (my OC character concept for a stoic, wise Jedi Council member,) stepped out of the Y-Wing starfighter and addressed Anakin.

"General Skywalker. You certainly have been busy. I can understand your courage knows no bounds, which is why you're always in the center of the action. But if you tried to fight the Orks here without outside help, it would be considered foolishness, not bravery. Thankfully, my apprentice and I have brought some new challengers to even out the playing field."

"Oh, and by the way, I am fully aware that you and Beidou know things that I do not. You can discuss those matters with me after we win this battle."

"How do we win here?," Monty asked. "What power and weaponry do your troops command?"

Beidou smiled.

"Excellent question, my furry teammate. Let's just say they'll... BEND the battleground to their will."

TO BE CONTINUED

You'll just have to wait and see to find out what that last part means!

But... you might be aware already!