Tangmo tried to stop his jaw from dropping, he really did, but alas he was utterly unsuccessful as he, Laura, Yuki, Nikki and the main characters strode down the rows of towering aisles inside the subterranean hangar. Situated five hundred meter below ground and reinforced with rockcrete and adamantium beams, the enormous storage unit was on the southward side of the strip mine. They've hit the motherlode, the jackpot, the lottery, the wealth he now gazed upon cannot be measured in dollars, pounds, baht or yen, and when you considered the military implication, well, Tangmo wasn't religious but holy shit, it's like the God Emperor himself had just singlehandedly helped the Immortal Spirit battlegroup. Iron, steel, tungsten, gold, silver, platinum, palladium, lithium, aluminum, titanium, tin, ceramites, every conceivable metals and alloys, the lifeblood of the war machine that was the Imperium of Man, were arrayed in neat blocks and bars, stacked tight and high into the unreachable slate grey ceiling. With this much material, raw and processed, the battlegroup wouldn't have to worry about supplies for the next several decades.

"Hey Tangmo," Laura snickered from beside him, "you're skipping mate."

"Am I?" Tangmo glanced down and what do you know, he was bouncing on his toes. "In my defense, I'm not skipping, I am dancing."

"Yes, your arms are swinging," Yuki and the main characters observed with rising mirth. The Japanese exarch then stabbed her thumb at the battlegroup's newest members. "Not that I don't enjoy the dance routine, but you're scaring Lakshmi and Rani."

"Is that…the Shane McMahon shuffle?" Nikki made the correct observation, a grin splitting her face in two. "It is the Shane McMahon shuffle! Appropriate, because here comes the money!"

"Feel free to join in ladies, dollar, dollar," Tangmo smirked and proceed to do the younger McMahon's signature entrance.

"I'll pass," Laura chuckled then glanced at Lakshmi and Rani. "Thank you, I can only shudder at the thought of what would happen if the orks get their hands on this."

"We only did our duty, lady inquisitor," Lakshmi nodded solemnly. "Even in the face of death, we will give every last drop of blood to deny the greenskins their prize."

"It's still good to be acknowledge for your hard work once in a while," Rani shot Alistair and Emily a sideway glance. "Complements are rare, especially in certain social circle."

"One thing perplexes me though," colonel Bruce of the Grey Watch ran a hand over a crate, thick layer of dust clung to his fingers and palm. "I thought this entire enterprise was abandoned thousands of years ago, with the record seemingly abandoned by the Ministorum and the Mechanicus, by the Throne, the only data about Darwin IX we possessed simply stated that it was a Death World. How was it that the Conglomerate knew about the mining operation in the first place?"

"As we said earlier, friends in high castles," Emily spoke up. "Those hounds are always sniffing for new places to exploit and make profit off. It must be nothing short of random chance that they discovered Darwin IX."

"You know nothing of this?" Lakshmi asked.

"The Conglomerate has certain liberties when conducting their enterprise, especially one of the mercantile nature," Emily went on. "The high council of Praetoria is more than willing to turn a blind eye to their undertaking, because they'll reap the benefit of the Conglomerate's success, while at the same time possessing plausible deniability if anything…dishonorable were to happen. It is a disgusting but very effective system."

"What can they hope to accomplish from gaining control of the resources?" Colonel Evangeline gestured at the endless rows of supplies. "Surely the bounty will be given to the Ministorum and distributed to the Imperium at large."

"They'll make themselves the supplier, make offers to desperate warzones, and monopolize on the profit," Alistair now make the input, "the embattled forces will pay anything for a quick resupply."

"Blackguards, the lot of them," colonel Kenshin sneered and turned to Lakshmi. "It is more than clear that you despise the Conglomerate, and from what I have seen so far you command decisively and virtuously, how is it that you ended up with them?"

"Bad luck, nothing more to it than that," Lakshmi shook her head. "Our reputation is well known across many battlefields and campaigns, our martial legacy stretching back thousands of years. We are hardy, stubborn, and extremely versatile when it comes to combined arms warfare, and the Conglomerate singled us out for this venture. The lord governor of Lohid Chakram complied eagerly, the Praetorian Guard is famous after all, and association with them will elevate us in turn."

"And they put us in latrine and menial duty – don't give me that look Lakshmi, you want to say it as much as I do!" Rani blurted and, after a glaring contest with Lakshmi, which she won, pressed on. "They disparage me and Lakshmi in public, shot down all of our contribution and suggestion, treated our soldiers like they were Servitors, and left us to fight alone!"

"Why didn't y'all just shoot them snakes?" colonel Joanna piped up, her suggestion supported by vigorous bobbing of heads. "As Emily said earlier friendly fire happens, so I'm rightly surprise you didn't rectify them."

"They brought along allies, like minded regiments with matching pomp and attitude," Lakshmi said. "We were unfortunately outnumbered."

"Who were these allies?" Joanna's grinned creepily and patted the bolt revolver on her belt. "And please tell me they're alive."

"Alas, like the Conglomerate, the orks destroyed them when they abandoned us here. A botched retreat, but you'll not see me or mine shed any tears," Lakshmi responded darkly. "As for their allies, they were the Volpone Bluebloods and the Scintillan Fusiliers."

"Volpone Bluebloods?! Are you fucking shitting me?!" Tangmo bellowed loudly, causing Lakshmi and Rani to yelp in fright. "The Tanith are fucking extinct and these motherfuckers are still around?! Holy God Emperor, there's no fucking justice in this universe, I swear."

"Well, those cunts are dead, I say that's justice enough," Laura shrugged then looked at Lakshmi. "None of them are alive now? The Conglomerate, the Volpone, the Scintillan, all of them are dead?"

"They are, lady inquisitor," Lakshmi nodded.

"A shame," Emile spoke up, and seeing that dangerous glint in her eyes, Tangmo slid a few inches away from the Praetorian major. "I would dearly love to have a long conversation with them."

"So you can reminiscent and help each other out?" Rani snorted with no small amount of venom.

"I have ways of making men and women honest, major," Emile stared coldly at Rani, causing her to swallow loudly. "I am very good with words."

"But…umm, we have the Conglomerate's complete communication records, along with numerous correspondences that passed between them and the Volpone and the Scintillan," Rani pressed on quickly, all out of sort, the most common symptom when coming face to face with Emily's flinty gaze. "We also have the manifest of the resources, along with every confidential file regarding the Conglomerate inner working. The problem is that the files are encrypted, so opening them would be a problem."

"Oh I don't believe that will be a problem at all, we have men, women and Machine Spirits who specialize in such field," after an affirmative nod from Tangmo, Emily gave Rani her charming smile and tipped her pith helmet. "Thank you major Rani. And after we have compiled all the necessary data a report will be sent to Roboute Guilliman and Jagatai Khan, their retribution on the corrupt will be swift."

"I – I don't know what to say but, thank you major," Rani bowed at Emily before rounding on Lakshmi with a glare, the colonel had a very smug, satisfied look on her face. "Enjoyed that, didn't you? Watching me all helpless and alone?!"

"Yes I did," Lakshmi didn't attempt to hide her mirth, but became solemn when she returned her attention to the battlegroup, more specifically Tangmo. "By your orders lord commissar, the Lohid Chakram will commence with the transportation of the supplies."

"No, all of you go take a break, we'll do the heavy lifting," Tangmo cracked a smile at Lakshmi and Rani then tapped his earbud. "Solveig, do you read me?"

"Go ahead lord commissar," the lord admiral of the Immortal Spirit fleet responded crisply. "I've prepared several wings of air support. They are ready to depart at your command."

"That's great Solveig, but I need you to prepare several squadrons of heavy transports, crewed with the best of our mechanics, engineers and workers," Tangmo said. "We've just hit the motherlode of raw materials and processed goods, and I'm not letting the orks take it."

"Understood sir," Solveig was silent for a moment before continuing. "It would take two hours for the squadrons and crews to be assemble, can you hold the orks back until then?"

"Not a problem dude," Tangmo grinned and his homies and the main characters cheered loudly. "How faraway are the orks?"

"You should be able to see the tip of the spear right about now sir. They're advancing at a most reckless haste."

"Lady inquisitor, lord commissar, you and the high command are needed at the front immediately, contact with the orks are imminent."

Solveig had barely finished his sentence with Galatea spoke up, her timbre calm and collected but possessing clear steel that bespoke of great urgency, not a heartbeat later the thunderous drumming of unleashed guns rumbled through the earth. Trading badass nods with Laura, Yuki and Nikki, Tangmo led the main characters up the wide corridor of weak flickering lights and sprinted back to the surface, where they were greeted by the familiar pandemonium of bustling warfare.

"Lakshmi, Rani, go take care of your troops, we got this," Tangmo said then leaned closer to the Lohid colonel. "And if the worse come to pass, get all the sick and wounded inside the Chimeras and hauled ass to the main research complex, we'll catch up with you guys later."

"I won't leave you behind sir," Lakshmi responded with iron, around them the roar of guns was rising in octave, "we of the Lohid Chakram do not retreat."

"Just keep the option in mind," Tangmo glanced over his shoulder when a shell landed about a hundred yards away, the shot was wild and aimless, trademark of orkish gunnery, hitting an empty silo and injuring a few people. "Now sit back and relax and enjoy the show."

"Oi Tangmo, get your arse moving!" Laura bellowed into his earbud, she and Yuki were already at the frontline. "We got some target rich environment over here!"

"On my way," Tangmo tipped his awesome commissar cap at Lakshmi in goodbye and, not waiting for the colonel to get a word in, dashed to where the cacophony was reaching a deafening pitch, riveted liberally with nonsensical, but extremely loud orkish war cry. Waving his hand energetically, Tangmo joined Nikki, Leilatha, Krillen and a group of Cadian troopers. "Shit's getting pretty loud yo, what the fuck are we dealing with?"

"Buggies, motorcycles and jeeps, all painted red, all crammed to bursting with a fuckton of orks," Nikki told him. "Stupid bastards really want the mine and are bum rushing us, I don't think they realize the battlegroup is here."

"Orks are never astute students of war," Tangmo snorted as they entered the defensive perimeter, and grinned when he beheld the bristling fortification that had materialized in the short time span since their arrival. It was just the battlegroup's luck that the orks were coming at them from the north, because the immediate approach to the mine was a ten kilometer wide flatland studded with residential complexes, large hangars for storages and vehicles, and power stations. Everything had since been reduced to rubbles by the six months long fighting, which provided the battlegroup with ample places to deploy their heavy guns and hunkered down. Every inch of the mournful vista was now occupied, the Sisters of Battle, eldars and guardsmen making full use of the cover, the rockcrete and steels providing more than adequate protection from the ork's messy firepower. Reaching the foremost firing line, laid out amongst rows of piled up rocks and metals, the still standing foundations seemed to indicate that these were apartment buildings in better times, Tangmo and his homies slid in amongst the canonesses and their Celestians. "Sorry I'm late ladies, got any update for me?"

"These lots are getting dismantled," canoness Bellona grunted with satisfaction, let loose a few bolts, then tapped the side of her helm, "watch your fire sisters, captain Zolwyken and his lancers are dispatching the orks."

"That's mightily neighborly of you," Nikki winked at Bellona before putting on her Predator helm, the Bloody Rose grunted with humor in response. "But seriously though, thank you, I really appreciate the gesture."

"I know the value of great allies, lady exarch," Bellona honed her gaze over the chest high wall, the glowing slit of her visor fixed on the far horizon, where an ominous cloud of dust was cresting up in alarming quantity, the vivid blue of the sky smeared by churning brown and black. "Zolwyken, be quick with the orks, the main army has arrived."

"I see them lady canoness, fret not, we're just about done," Zolwyken responded the same moment the last of the ork's bikes and buggies were destroyed by the Winged Hussars' gleaming red power lances, gibs and scraps flew skyward in fiery arches or dashed into pulping mushes against the ground. When nothing but twisted wreckage of irons and fleshes remained Zolwyken swung his saber in the air and led his retinue of hussars, twenty in all, back behind the battlegroup's positon, their anti-grav bikes easily clearing the cover. Swinging his bike around and parking not ten paces from the frontline, Zolwyken and his wife Aemtyra leapt off their steed and joined them. "A task well done, won't you agree my lady?"

"The tide wasn't stemmed, but yes, it was indeed a task well done," Bellona nodded gruffly, but the complement was genuine, absent the usual begrudging haughtiness that was common with the Sororitas. Her fingers making quick sign of the aquila, Bellona trained her crimson bolter forward. "It has been a long time since I've faced the orks, and by the God Emperor I've honestly forgotten how massive their armies are."

"If your constitution is disturbed Bellona, you are free to retire to the rear," Morelia was obviously smirking underneath her helm, the comment drawing low snickers from the other canonesses. Beyond, across the two kilometers no man's land, the flatland having since been pockmarked with burning craters and destroyed vehicles, the orks had amassed into a heaving green tsunami that stretched from horizon to horizon. Even far away their abrasive war cry was still too fucking loud. "The orks are even uglier than I remembered."

"On the contrary, Morelia," now it was Bellona's turn to smirk, "I am very happy to be here. Let's see if we can teach these mindless beasts to fear the Adepta Sororitas."

"Oi! Do you gits hear me over there?!"

It took a moment for Tangmo to realize that, against all established notion in regard to orkish intelligence, the greenskin had just fucking hailed the Immortal Spirit battlegroup. Trading looks with his homies and the main characters, all of them confirming that indeed a gravelly voice, spoken through what was obviously a gigantic megaphone of extremely questionable quality, had blared from across the killing field.

"Did that motherfucker just spoke to us?" Tangmo stabbed his thumb at the hollering mob of orks, which was impressively holding their formation and not charging the battlegroup like a buncha blood drunk lunatic.

"What's the matter?! You grots got so scare that you ain't even gonna have a little chat?! I thought you humies like to waste your breath like that!" The speaker guffawed loudly and the rest of the orks took up the mirth. "Look at them boyz! They don't even have the guts to talk! HAHAHAHA!"

"Yo Meko!" Tangmo raised his voice and the radio captain slid in beside him, the headphone of the communication pack held forward. "Thank you my dude."

"Say something you gits!" The ork continued, already getting impatient. "I'm trying to be honorable here!"

"What?!" Tangmo responded gruffly, his beer drinking enunciation laced with a Texan accent, Laura, Yuki and Nikki laughed aloud when they recognized the rattlesnake the Thai commissar was imitating.

"Hahaha! I knew you humie gits can't help but run your mouths!" The orks guffawed. "Well humies, what do ya think of me boyz, eh? How long do you think you're gonna last, huh? Minutes? Seconds? Hours? You know what, I don't really care, we're gonna crump you gits nice and good. And give us a good fight while you're at it, or I'm giving you to the rats to play with!"

"…What?!" Tangmo said again, the lack of his trademark violent articulation of the English language was drawing quizzical looks from the main characters.

"We're gonna crump you gits so hard that there won't be anything left for the squigs to eat! We're gonna bash, smash, burn, maim and explode you lots so bad that Gork and Mork will laugh their teeth off!" The ork went on. "You hear me good this time humie?!"

"What?!" Tangmo continued, the main characters were starting to giggle at the interaction.

"Are you deaf or something?! Say something else!"

"What?!"

"I'm gonna kill you myself! You'll burn over the pit and I'll get to have the first bite!"

"What?!"

"Say something else you git!"

"What?!"

"That's it! You humie bastards are dead! Oi boyz, here we go, here we go, here we go!"

"And Tangmo 3:16 says I'm gonna whoop your ass! And that's the bottom line, cause Tangmo said so!"

Throwing the headphone back at Meko, Tangmo jumped up on the chest high ruin, basked in the orks bombastic WAAAGGHHHH, and raised both his arms up, middle fingers extended to the fullest, giving the greenskins the Stone Cold Steve Austin salute.

"Did you just argue with the orks?" Landing back inside the safety of the ramshackle, but sturdy defenses, Tangmo adjusted his awesome commissar coat and was not surprised to find that Lakshmi and Rani had joined them. And they brought friends this time. "And judging by the outburst…you actually won."

"Not at all a difficult task, I'm super eloquent like that," Tangmo unslung the Zetton lasgun from his shoulder, checked the ammo, nine more hours of laser juice left, then glanced Lakshmi's retinue, all of them covered in dust and grimes like her. "These are your high command?"

"They are, lord commissar," Lakshmi nodded and the officers stood at attention, unbothered by the wounds adorning their bodies. The colonel waved at the first man, his arm was wrapped inside a red soaked bandage, but despite the injury his blistering handlebar mustache remained immaculate, "this is captain Singh," the second man sported a thick beard and possessed the usage of all his limbs, and like Singh he wore a Sikh style turban, "lieutenant Sahnan," the last man had the appearance of a hermit one finds in Indian and Thai mythology, thick and long grey beard, bald headed, string of beads around the neck. "finally, our regimental chaplain, Rama."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintances," Tangmo tipped his awesome commissar cap in greeting, and was about to part more words when the air shuddered violently, the orks' cacophonic roar distorting the very fabric of reality. "I would love to chat more, but the greenskins demand my absolute attention. Feel free to cheer and clap, because shits about to get epic!"

"The Praetorians are fighting?" Captain Singh spoke up in disbelief, because amongst the diverse troops sprinkled across the battlegroup's defensive line were the red clad guardsmen, lasguns honed forward, steady and unwavering.

"Indeed we are, good sir," the Lohid guardsmen turned as one when none other than captain Adrian strode up with jovial, energetic steps, he was greeted with raucous cheers from the soldiery, humans and eldars alike. Making one final check on his bolt pistol, his mechanical eye clicking an excited tune, Adrian slipped in beside Tangmo and nodded amiably at Singh. "The orks make good hunting after all, and I for one enjoy a vigorous exercise, especially of the martial sorts."

"Guess we'll finally get to see the Praetorian in action," Rani quirked a challenging brow at Adrian, who reciprocated with a cheeky wink, then fixed her attention on the churning mass of orks thundering across no man's land, their mad snarling visages were extremely revolting. "Here they come."

"Mortar teams, are you in position?" Tangmo spoke into his earbud then tapped captain Orhul on the shoulder, he glanced back and flashed a thumb at the Thai commissar, "all heavy troops open fire, pick a target and let it rip!"

"Mortars in position lord commissar, every calibration completed," major Ione of the Kolasi Fire Guard answered him. "Awaiting you order sir."

"I want the mortars to commence with the bombardment major," Tangmo told her the same moment the battlegroup defenses erupted in a cacophonic riot of kaleidoscopic light. Heavy bolters, auto cannons, lascannons, and vulcan cannons unleashed their payload on the orks in a merciless full auto barrage, the heat of the ordnance distorting the air into hazy, rippling blurs, the tidal wave of iron, laser and fire was soon joined by the crimson flashes of rapid-las and Zodd lasguns, the strobing firepower blending until they were indistinguishable. Those wielding Zetton lasguns and shuriken catapults were, for the moment, not opening fire. "Five hundred yards from the forward most defensive line, I want twenty minutes of continuous bombardment interspersed with ten minutes break, light the fucking place up!"

"Your will be done sir," Ione answered crisply and not a second later the whistles of falling bombs cleaved through the hellish din of gunfire. Rolling clouds of flame blossomed amongst the orkish ranks, weapons and limbs twirling prettily into the air. Unsurprisingly the greenskins hollered and cheered as more shells rained on their heads, explosive death very much energizing their fighting spirits, "impact on targets, I need visual confirmation on the effectiveness."

"Direct fucking hit, keep it up, fire for effect!" Tangmo grinned and, seeing how the orks were now super close, braced his lasgun firmly to his shoulder and pulled the trigger, sending a brilliant white hot lasbolt into the face of the greenskin directly in front of him, turning his cranium inside out in burst of gore. "Open fire! Unleash hell on those motherfuckers! In the name of the Emperor let none survive!"

Carried upon the guardsmen and eldars exalted roar, a tidal wave of laser crashed into the orks with a concussive bang, a thunderclap of brutal, raw violence, so loud in cadence that the ruins around them swayed precariously from the tangible volume. The vanguard of the orks were destroyed with expected brutality, limbs, entrails and scarp metals were burned, eviscerated, mutilated, and decapitated in gushes of gory red, the ichor turning to steams from the heat unleashed. Like ripened harvest the battlegroup's firepower scythed the orks to pieces, but there were no respite for the humans and eldars, for in the brief lull when the heavy guns reloaded their ammunitions, or when the barrels of the lasguns got so hot that they had to stop firing, the orks surged forward again, undiminished in valor, unrepentant in fury.

"Fix bayonets lads and lasses!" Laura bellowed, magnetized the hellgun to the power pack, and drew her Scottish claymore with a beautiful screech of iron. "About time we get to shank those cunts! Prepare for blood!"

"Are you people armed?" Tangmo turned to the Lohid contingent, all whom proceeded to draw their laspistols, extremely outdated and busted up laspistols. Shaking his head, Tangmo fixed the bayonet to his lasgun and handed it to the surprised Lakshmi. "Here, it'll be a lot better than that shitty BB gun you're using."

"Lord commissar I can't…"

"Woman, take the lasgun, because holy fucking shit I think the orks just reached the defenses," Lakshmi promptly took the proffered weapon and Tangmo spun sharply around, drawing his broad krabi sword in the process, and what do you know a freaking ork boyz was rushing him with a choppa raised high. Tangmo was about to dashed at the orks when a bolt tore the greenskin's kneecap apart in an explosion of bones and bloods. Before the hulking bastard can even registered the damage inflicted, captain Adrian swooped in, the Praetorian's sword making a silver arch as he cleanly beheaded the greenskin. "Nice save Adrian, thank you. But seriously though, I would've easily gutted that a-hole."

"I have no doubt about that sir," Adrian flicked blood off his sword, "but I rather not take any chances."

"Mighty fine thinking captain, again, thank you for the – fuck!" Tangmo shouldered passed Adrian, jumped off the ground, tucked both his legs up to his chest, and unleashed a dropkick on an ork that was taking aim at the Praetorian captain. The Thai commissar's boots made a satisfying crunch, nose was crushed and teeth snapped. The ork was hardly bothered though, but before he can fix Tangmo in his iron sight a burst of white lasbolts tore his head apart. Springing back up, Tangmo saw that it was Lakshmi who had made the kill. "Nice shot colonel!"

"You're welcome sir," Lakshmi looked at the weapon in her hands, eyes wide with astonishment. "By the God Emperor, this lasgun is remarkable."

"I know right?!" Tangmo drew the handle of his eldar katana, grinning toothily when Lakshmi sprung back when the blade was extended to its full length. Giving both swords quick warm up twirls, Tangmo traded badass nods with Adrian and, together with the bayonet wielding guardsmen and Guardians at their backs, charged the orks now clambering over the defenses. "Give us some covering fire, if you please?! Into the fray you magnificent bastards! In the name of the Emperor, let none survive!"

Logic and wisdom will say that fighting orks in close quarter combat amount to little better than suicide, where ten thousand years of human technological advancement became moot as the pure, undiluted brutality of war was unleashed in its most primal form, a savage state that the greenskins exceled in the absolute. But hey, it ain't 40k if there isn't a melee slobberknocker to spice up the grim darkness of the forty second millennium, and the Immortal Spirit battlegroup were melee weapon specialists. The orks weren't startled or shocked when the guardsmen and eldars came at them, bayonets, swords, daggers, axes and shovels gleaming, if anything they were fucking thrill by the prospect, but what they sure as hell didn't expect was getting beaten at their own game. The two sides collided in a thunderous surf of blood and fire, and Tangmo was in the thick of it, his two swords flashing gleeful silver as he cut, stabbed, slashed and cleaved at any orks within reach, the screeching song of steel piercing clearly amidst the greenskins' unceasing bestial hollers. The orks were tough, Tangmo admitted begrudgingly, the corded muscles resistant to an absurd extreme, taking twice, no, thrice the effort to break, and when he managed to part the thick layer of skin and sinews he was met with bones possessing the density of industrial grade steel. Before long Tangmo had abandoned all tenets of krabi-krabong and kenjutsu and swung his swords like a hammer, a war hammer to be precise, and it freaking worked, by his count he managed to make five unassisted kill, one point ahead of Adrian.

"Destroy the greenskin sisters! Slay them all in the name of the God Emperor! Domine libra nos!" Tangmo let out a relief sigh, because goddamn fighting orks was hard work, when melodic feminine roar erupted around him. The ork Tangmo was about to skewer looked up, his dumbfounded visage lasted for a heartbeat before a bolt decapitate him. And running passed him, weapons ablaze with fury, were the Sororitas and the Howling Banshees, the warrior women easily plowed into the faltering orks, leaving nothing but messy destruction in their wake.

"Hey mate! Good to see you still kicking," Laura and Yuki slid in beside him, their blood soaked smile bright and sunny, "quite a fight, ain't it?"

"That was some brutal shit, yeah," Tangmo wiped blood from his face and tapped his earbuds. "All infantry reform the line, the Adepta Sororitas and the Howling Banshees are taking center stage now."

"Are you hurt?" Yuki peered closer at Tangmo, her usually boisterous timbre now replaced by genuine concern. Although she doesn't show this side much, Tangmo knew personally how caring and protective Yuki was of her friends. "Do you need a medic? Seriously, if you're hurt, just tell me where."

"I'm okay Yuki, thank you for asking," Tangmo flashed Yuki and Laura a disarming smile, which was enough to ease their worries. "Those ork fuckers didn't even come close to touching me, but I'm winded as fuck though, killing them is hard."

"I can imagine," Laura gave Tangmo a friendly tap on the shoulder as the guardsmen and Guardians formed a Napoleonic firing line behind them, blood drenched their battered uniform, a quick sweep told him that the main characters were more or less uninjured. About a hundred paces in front of them the Sisters of Battle and the Banshees and the Striking Scorpions were finishing off the orks. The bloodletting was done quickly, and not a moment after Miriya and Firnera tag-teamed an ork boyz to pieces horns and clarions resounded across the battlefield, prompting the nuns and elves to swiftly fall into formations. In less than a minute long firing lines, several testudo, multiple shield walls and a couple of power halberd schiltrons were arrayed against the ruin the guardsmen had occupied earlier, ready for the ork's second wave. "I would love to chat more mate, but right now it's me and Yuki's turn to kill some orks."

"I'll be here cheering you guys on," Tangmo was tipping his awesome commissar cap in salute when a group of orks bulled across the ruins, choppas and bolters brandished high above their heads, while the nuns and elves remained unmoving, stoic and indomitable, a cliff face standing ready against the green tide. "And also provide fire support too, wouldn't want you ladies feeling lonely out there."

"Hey Tangmo, you done chatting yet?" Oh right, he was wondering where Nikki went off to. The Russian exarch was nigh untouchable in combat, sure, but like the rest of the Eight she was flesh and blood, and it was this fact that got Tangmo a bit worried when he couldn't find her after their melee with the orks. "Because me and the Vostroyan really need some help on the eastern front. The orks have launched a massive combined armed assault, the fuckers are trying to perform a pincer maneuver on us, so I'll really appreciate any help you can sent my way."

"Anybody who's not dead, follow me!" Tangmo waved his two swords in the air and took off toward where Nikki and her troops were hunkered down, the guardsmen and eldars, those still standing and sporting small wounds, sprinted after the Thai commissar. "Nikki needs our help, let's go motherfuckers, let's go!" When the colonels and captains gathered around him, Tangmo tapped his earbud. "I need tanks on my location, anything that can be spared."

"Acknowledged lord commissar, two companies of Castigators are en route to your position," the Sororitas responded, and out of the corner of his eyes Tangmo saw a column of tanks rolling alongside his troops.

"Lord commissar, I have dispatched ten Charon mobile artilleries to your position," colonel Hildebrandt, who was currently back at the main research complex, told Tangmo, "ETA forty minutes."

"Cutting it a little close, but thank you, the orks ain't getting pass us," Tangmo held his sword in the air as he entered the ruin of a gutted warehouse, a freaking warehouse the size of a small town. Nikki, who was standing atop a pile of concrete on the eastern most end, responded with an energetic wave, arrayed around her were the Vostroyan Firstborn. "Thank fucking God Emperor you're alive. You hurt?"

"Not all dude, thanks for asking," Nikki smiled brightly when she saw the reinforcement Tangmo had brought. "You got the tanks! Thank you, you're a life saver."

"Don't mention it dude," Tangmo placed a friendly hand on Nikki's shoulder before glancing at the open ground beyond the ruined warehouse, the green horde was wreathed in black smoke this time, the lumbering shapes of orkish war machines loomed above the tide. "A flat open space, we're lucky."

"That is a lot of orks," Rani appeared beside Tangmo and Nikki, her tone more awed than frightful, an excited glint flashing clear in her eyes. She glanced down at the laspistol in her hand and groaned. "Great, and all I have is this bloody useless thing." The major holstered the weapon and turned to Tangmo with an expectant quirk of a brow. "Would it be possible for you to show your generosity again, lord commissar? I'm rather lacking in firepower."

"Sorry Rani, I need all my guns right now," Tangmo shrugged apologetically and Rani mopped like a spoil brat, which made her very cute to behold. "Just go ask Lakshmi to share the Zetton lasgun."

"If you don't mind xeno weapon, then here," Nikki held out her shuriken pistol to Rani, the latest model that packed almost as much punch as a bolt pistol, the major's eyes bulging to saucers, hungry and giddy. "You can use mine, careful though, the little guy is powerful."

"Thank you…umm, lady eldar, mam," Rani bowed profusely, accepted Nikki's pistol with impolite haste, then brandished said weapon victoriously at the less than amused Lakshmi, the other Lohid officers watched the pair with clear sufferance and endearment. "Ha! Look what I got!"

"Everything is ready, lady exarch," Tangmo and Nikki turned to colonel Stanislav and major Volikova, the two Vostroyan had a Cossack swagger as they approached the Thai commissar and the Russian exarch, both had shashka sabers draped over their shoulders and were smoking merrily from long pipes. "We are ready for the orks. It will be our pleasure to give them a resound beating, as our ancestors had done countless times in the past."

"That's what I wanted to hear my dudes!" Tangmo held out his fist and Stanislav bumped it with heart. "But please, leave some for us too."

"I'm sure a few will slip pass," Volikova blew a long, indulgent puff before locking eyes with Tangmo. "With your permission sir, we would like to sing our war song, to boast the spirit and morale of the battlegroup."

"Dude, you don't need to ask me for permission," Tangmo grinned wickedly and the two Vostroyan bowed in thanks. "This is the Immortal Spirit battlegroup, musical numbers are our martial tradition, so go ahead and sing your hearts out, I'm sure it's gonna be awesome!"

"A very strange tradition, if you wouldn't mind me saying," Lakshmi observed as the beating of snare drums, the tempo hearty and spirted, rolled down the defenses. A moment later deep rumbling hums, a sonorous melody rising in defiance of orkish screams, rose from the Vostroyan, the Cossacks guardsmen grim and unmoving. "By the God Emperor, they are really singing!"

"Arise, Firstborn of Vostroya! Arise in this moment of blood and glory!" Stanislav bellowed, his shashka raised high, radiant in fury, the boisterous roar of his brothers and sisters in arms rivaling the orks in volume and intensity. "Glory to Vostroya, glory to the Imperium, glory to the God Emperor, the orks die this day!"

"Zrodylys' my velykoi hodyny, Z pozhezh viyny, iz polum'ia vohniv. Plekav nas bil' po vtrati Vostroya/Ukrainy, kormyv nas hniv i zlist' na vorohiv! (We were born in an hour of greatness, from the fires of war and the flame of blazing guns. The pain of losing Vostroya/Ukraine nurtured us, our hatred and malice hardened our souls!)."

The Vostroyan were famous for their discipline, marksmanship and unflinching fortitude in the face of impossible adversity, these traits were now on full display as a powerful volley reaped savagely into the ork's vanguard. Hundreds were cut down and reduced to gibs within a single heartbeat, the devastating barrage impressing the orks as they quickened their pace, knowing a good fight when they see one.

"I my ydemo u boiu zhyttievomu, tverdi, mitsni, nezlamni mov hranit. Bo plach ne dav svobody shche nikomu, a khto borets', toi zdobuvaie svit! (We now head into the greatest battle of our lives, strong, indomitable and unbreakable as granite. For weeping has never made one free, only those who fight can conquer the world!"

It was inevitable that the orks will manage to get within melee range, but the bloodletting that followed was not easy. The Vostroyan met the ork's flailing choppas with furious stabs and thrusts of bayonets, gutting, skewering and eviscerating every greenskin within reach until a thick curtain of haunting crimson misted the air. But the Firstborn did not fight alone, for the Kuronese, Praetorians, Buxiunese and Sleaghadharian swiftly joined in the mosh pit, adding their own flavor of violence to the carnage.

"Ne khochemo ni slavy ni zaplaty, zaplata nam tse radist' v borot'bi! Solodshe nam u boiu umyraty, jak zhyty v putakh, mov nimi raby. (We want neither payment nor glory, for our greatest reward is the joy of battle! For it is sweeter to fall in combat, than to live as muted slaves.)"

Tangmo and Nikki were in the thickest midst of the fight, their swords and daggers making bloody works of the orks. The greenskins were extremely impolite and refused to die easily, but the battlegroup lived up to their tenacious, relentless reputation and, after an excessive application of steels and ordnance, managed to not only killed the boyz but also pushed them back, inch by bloody inch, meats and bones grinded wetly beneath the violent pounding of stomping boots.

"Velyku pravdu dlia usikh yedynu, nash hordyi klych narodovi nese. Vitchyzni ty bud' virnyi do zahynu, nam Vostroya/Ukraina vyshche ponad vse! (This one ultimate creed that our people proudly bears: Be loyal till death, for Vostroya/Ukraine is above all!)"

"Oi! What the bloody hell am I hearing?!" Laura blurted into Tangmo and Nikki's earbuds as the Castigators rolled forward, heavy guns spewing fire, cutting large burning swathes into the orkish horde and obliterating their Battlewagons and Trukks and looted Leman Russes to hell. The guardsmen and Aeldari roared boisterously and fall in behind the tanks, more than eager to take the fight to the orks. "Did someone just say Ukraine in the middle of a song?"

"Yeah," Nikki responded, "I did."

"Okay, mate, I love you, but that is totally inappropriate, and wildly offensive," Laura went on. "That's like me walking into Dublin or Derry, clad in a full British redcoat regalia, and started singing Come Out Ye Black and Tan."

"…I'm half Ukrainian," Nikki responded lowly, anger seeping into her voice.

"Ha! No you're not!" Laura's start of a laugh died away when Nikki's only response was a deathly silence worthy of the deepest, most vicious winter. "No…no way, this is a joke, there's no way I would've missed something like that."

"Umm…babe, she is half Ukrainian, on her mother's side," Yuki pipped up, sheepish and apologetic, "she was born in Kyiv, moved to Moscow when she was a teen, spent a few years there, now she and her family are in Stockholm, Erik helped take care of that."

"B-But you were going on about how you love Putin and what not," Laura pressed on with faltering conviction. "You guys remember, right?! Before we went and rescue Eleanor and Elizabeth?!"

"That was before I moved to Sweden," Nikki's eyes twitched irritably, "and how was I, a half Ukrainian, supposed to survive in a high school full of Muscovites?! I need to go with the flow, or end up flowing down a river!"

"Well you should've told me!" Laura tried to play the victim, "and it's not like everybody else knew about this!"

"I do," always the asshole who loves to exasperate a situation, Tangmo flashed a shit eating grin as he spoke into his earbud. "Everyone knew dude, so I seriously don't know what kinda communication breakdown happened between you and the rest of us."

"Hey Tangmo, mind if I borrow the Thai kick for a bit?" Nikki looked at Tangmo with a manic grin. "There's a certain brunette Brit who's about to get her ass flayed!"

"Knock yourself out dude," Tangmo held up his thumb, and it didn't escape his noticed that the ork's return fire had lessened considerably in the intervening minutes. "Just be careful, okay? The orks ain't going down without a fight. Stray bullets are fucking flying everywhere."

"Ha! Good luck finding us!" Laura laughed. "You don't know where me and Yuki are!"

"The lady inquisitor and the lady exarch are leading a counterattack against the ork," Galatea made her nonchalant input, dutifully ignoring Laura who was telling her to shut the fuck up. "The Sororitas and the Aeldari are swinging down from the north, what is your current location?"

"Directly beneath you Galatea," Nikki chirped happily, "we'll push the orks directly into you so the both of us can encircle and destroy them, hammer and anvil."

"An excellent idea lady exarch," Galatea was obviously nodding on the other end. "I shall be seeing you soon."

"Galatea, what in the bloody fuck did you just do?!" Laura screamed at the lady canoness.

"I simply share battle tactic with our allies, lady inquisitor," Galatea's feign innocent was deliciously poisonous, "communication is instrumental in a battle of this magnitude. The battlegroup must work together as a single coherent entity for success to be guarantee."

"I'll see you soon Laura," Nikki crooned dementedly then turned to Tangmo, her smile warm like sunflower. "Can you handle everything here? If you need me, I can stay."

"Nah dude, Leilatha and the guardsmen are with me, everything is peachy," Tangmo drew Nikki into a heartfelt bro hug, with many firm smacking of the backs, then let her go. "You go and have fun."

"Oh, I will," Nikki slipped away from the Castigator they were trailing, let off a few shots in the direction of the orks, then sprinted into the dusty gloom of the battlefield, all the while waving energetically at Tangmo. "See ya!"

"The battlegroup just pushed back an ork attack, whilst singing," Lakshmi's mouth was slightly agape, more than awed by the current development, "by the God Emperor I didn't believe it could be done. But should we be pursuing them? This seems needlessly risky."

"Thanks for the complement Lakshmi, and yes, we need to take the fight to the orks," Tangmo said, cringing a bit when the Castigator fired off a shot, burning red bloomed somewhere a few hundred yards away. "It's the only way to deal with them."

"Every ork left alive will return to hound us," Leilatha joined them, cutting in before Rani can speak. "The surest way to liquidate the greenskin's fighting capability is absolute destruction, when such opportunity arises we must take it."

"And with the tools we have, the task can be accomplished snappishly," colonel Bruce commented as piercing feminine war cry and orkish howls rolled over the battlefield. "Look there! The Sisters of Battle and the Banshees are giving those greenskin a well deserve thrashing, now that's the sort of fight I can watch all day!"

"You and me both," Tangmo tapped his earbud as he stepped around the Castigator, the mounted heavy melta blazing long and bright. "This is lord commissar Tangmo, create a cordon around the orks and assist the Sororitas and the Aspect Warriors in the cleanup operation. I want them all dead in the next twenty minutes."

"Yes sir!"

"You're right Luva," Tangmo tipped his awesome commissar cap at the scout captain, who winked at him in return. "This is a nice change of pace, fighting orks are a lot less stressful than fighting Chaos. At least we don't have to deal with any Warp fuckery."

"The greenskins are still a pain in the ass to kill though," Kenshin rolled his shoulders until it gave a satisfying pop, his kabuto, tosei armor and katana were covered in thick layer of gore. "Feels like I was cleaving through bars of iron."

"Getting a little winded in your old age, Kenshin?" Lingxin smirked at her Kuronese counterpart, leaning cheekily on her dao sword. "I can take some of the load off you."

"That won't be necessary Lingxin, I'm more than comfortable with my share. As for old age, well, I didn't hear you complain about my stamina last night," it was, by all account, a great comeback, so great that Kenshin earned himself a hard kick to the leg by Lingxin, the guardsmen and Aeldari all laughing at his misfortune. "Ow! Shit! Lingxin, I was only making a joke. Wait – oh come on, I'm sorry!"

"Now, now Lingxin, no need to pout like that!" Joanna put Lingxin in a friendly headlock, the Buxiunese was poignantly ignoring Kenshin's spluttering apology, although her lips lifted at the sight of the Kuronese hopping on one leg. "This is the kind of banter that gives a relationship an extra spice!"

"Not that I don't enjoy a little levity," Evangeline, flanked by major Gaston and captain Chastel, strode primly up to Tangmo. The Mordians' posture was formal but easy in countenance. "Now that these orks had been destroyed, what are we to do next?"

"Head back to the mine," Tangmo stabbed his thumb over his shoulder. "Sure, we'll do our best to destroy Kim Jor Urrk and his raggedly ass army, but our priority should be getting the planet resources and the STC back to the Immortal Spirit. Data regarding the kaijus and the wildlife must also be preserved, hell, we should bring a few live samples back too."

"And how would data regarding the planet's fauna be beneficial to us?" Evangeline asked.

"The rhino we fought can withstand lasbolts, Zetton lasbolts," Tangmo told her. "If we unlock the genetic code and the chemical makeup of their biological armor, it will benefit the battlegroup and the Imperium as a whole. Seriously, this planet is a biological goldmine as much as it is resource rich."

"A prize as great as any," colonel Xiphos nodded with a grunt and turned to Lakshmi, "we are indebted to the valor of your regiment, if you had not hold the line, the orks would've already claimed the God Emperor's bounty, thank you."

"Three huzzahs for the men and women of Lohid Chakram," captain Adrian raised his voice and the guardsmen and eldars within earshot cried out in salutation, genuine and pure, absent any guiles. "Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah!"

"T-Thank you captain," Lakshmi stammered and quickly wiped the wetness from her eyes. "But we don't deserve such praise, all we did was perform our duty, as was required by the God Emperor and the Imperium."

"A duty performed to the highest commendation," Alistair spoke up, and to say that the Chakram guardsmen were surprised would be an understatement. "I witness you fighting just now, and I would be the first to say that the praise is well earned, such immaculate marksmanship is very rare."

"Be careful colonel, captain Singh is the jealous type," Rani smirked, earning chuckles and roll of eyes from her Chakram compatriots. "And he sure loves a duel."

"I meant nothing untoward captain, please forgive me," Alistair bowed politely, the atmosphere becoming a lot more amiable, and now that the fighting had for the moment ended, the day was turning into a pretty good one. Tangmo silently cursed himself for daring to be optimistic, because the rising mirth died when low abhorrent roars rumbled across the recently won battlefield.

"Oh well, no rest for the righteous," Tangmo shrugged and the main characters went about checking their gears for the next bout. "The orks do not disappoint when it comes to bloodlust and tenacity. I like them predictable, but damn, it's still super fucking annoying."

"Looks like they're bringing out the beasts of war," Xiphos wiped his sweaty face then put the Corinthian helm back on. "Judging by the roar, I believe they will be using the Squiggoths."

"More target practice for us."

"Umm, colonel, lord commissar, I might not be an expert on orkish society, but I'm pretty sure that's not a Squiggoth," Korri cut into the banter, the high-pitched timbre of her enunciation, alarmed and alert, wiped the smile off of every faces, Tangmo included. "By the God Emperor, I don't know what the fuck I'm seeing, but they're huge."

"You're starting to scare me Korri," Tangmo climbed up atop a destroyed Battlewagon, Krillen, Leilatha and Min Jae joining him as they stared eastward. Gaze narrowed, Tangmo caught sight of the looming hazy silhouettes dominating the horizon. The size was of such unthinkable magnitude that he thought they were mountains at first. "What in the holy fuck – yo Korri, I need some visual on those fucking things. Are those ork Titans I'm looking at?"

"Negative lord commissar," Korri grunted, obviously peering hard through the scope of her sniper rifle. "There's too much dust, I can't get a complete picture. But they're moving with too much fluidity to be mechanical in nature."

Tangmo was about to ask more question when timed rumbles, the tempo that of a footfall, reverberated across the ground, so great was the tremor that some of the guardsmen flew off their feet with squawks of surprise and confusion. He then glanced at a puddle of blood beside the Battlewagon and found himself mesmerized by the halos blooming in sync with the thunderous booms, the sloshing ichor lapping against the dead orks around it. Tangmo was reflecting with humor how this was exactly like that famous scene in Jurassic Park when furious blasts of Roman tuba, belonging to the Eternal Legion Sororitas, resounded across the battlefield.

"Are they…sounding a retreat?" Krillen's flabbergasted face was a mirror of Tangmo's own, beside them Leilatha and Min Jae were exchanging quick words while staring through their binoculars. "That is the signal for retreat, yes?"

"It is – now the Frost Bringers are joining in too, what the hell?" Tangmo tapped his earbud as blaring horns clashed abrasively with the Roman tubas, yet the contrasting cadences bore the same message, a full retreat, "Laura, Yuki, Nikki, what in the ever loving fuck is going on?!"

"We can't stay here!" Laura blurted quickly, "oi! Don't just gawk, move your arses! Quit giving me that look, move it!"

"What is the meaning of this lady inquisitor?!" Galatea demanded snappishly, her timbre was one of absolute offense. Now that the Sororitas and the Banshee were moving into view, Tangmo can clearly see that the hardline Battle Sisters like the Bloody Rose, the Valorous Heart, the Frost Bringer and the Golden Pride were withdrawing with great reluctance, some even getting into scuffles with their more moderate counterparts. "I did not authorize a retreat!"

"Well I fucking did!" Tangmo caught sight of Laura, Yuki, Nikki and the canonesses emerging from the crowd, the trio were herding the very uncooperative nuns off the battlefield. "Don't argue with me Galatea, do you seriously not see those fucking things coming toward us?! There's a fine line between glory and stupidity, and if we stay we're gonna be crossing the Rubicon of retardation, so get the fuck back!"

"We might be able to slow them down!" Morelia added, and from her tone she actually, truly, believe that to be the case.

"I swear to the God Emperor, I'll have Tangmo shoot the lot of you if you don't do as I say right fucking now!" Laura bellowed, her arms gesticulating wildly at the gathered canonesses. Galatea looked pissed, and it was clear Heloise and Amaryllis were holding her back. "You wanna fucking go?! I knock your gob out and drag your arse back myself, swears on me mum!"

"Yo, leave me out of this dude," Tangmo cut into the rising argument before continuing in a more reasonable tone. "I doubt the God Emperor and Celestine would be pleased with fruitless sacrifice ladies, so I would politely ask that you fall back to a more defensible position, because whatever it is that's coming it's big."

"Fine then lord commissar," Galatea bit off each word harshly before waving her power zweihander in the air, "back to the rear sisters! Fall back to the defensive line around the mine, double time!"

"Thank you Galatea," Tangmo waved at the lady canoness, who reciprocated with a sharp nod. "Now that we got that out of the way, can someone please tell me what in the fuck are we actually dealing with?"

"You remember those scenes when Gojira showed up in Tokyo bay and everyone was screaming and running?" Yuki deadpanned as she, Laura and Nikki headed to where Tangmo was standing. "That's basically us right now."

"Wait, the kaijus are coming for us?" Tangmo wouldn't have believed Yuki if it wasn't for the titanic shapes, four in numbers, lumbering toward them, and yep, they were definitely not Gargants, "why in the fuck are they attacking us?! Did the fighting draw them here?! And why are they not killing each other?!"

"Oh my God, just because I'm Japanese doesn't mean I have all the fucking answer!" Yuki snapped as she reached the burned out Battlewagon, Tangmo reaching down to help her up. "Thanks, but no, I don't have a fucking clue as to what is happening."

"God Emperor have mercy upon us," Min Jae rasped as he slowly, dramatically, lowered the binocular from his face and handed it to Krillen. "It's the orks…they are riding the kaijus, controlling them."

"Bull fucking shit, something's totally fucked with your eyes," Yuki snatched the binocular from Krillen before he can even raise it to his face. The Japanese exarch ignored the Cadian blistering glare and pressed the ocular assistant hard over her eyes. "Orks controlling kaijus, no way in hell those fucks can manage that."

"Colonel Min Jae speaks true, lady exarch," Leilatha handed Tangmo the binocular. "The orks are indeed controlling the kaijus."

Tangmo took the proffered binocular, placed it over his eyes and – god fucking damn it, Min Jae and Leilatha was right! Why did they have to be right, especially about this?! Adjusting the lenses and stiffening his muscles so that his hands weren't shaking, Tangmo zoomed in to confirm that the absolute impossibility had just come to pass. The orks have successfully domesticated the kaijus and were now using them as beasts of war, like how the Carthaginians, Indians, Burmese and Siamese used elephants as shock troops. Crude armors of iron, emblazoned with orkish graffiti, were decked out across the hulking monsters at chaotic intervals. The mismatched plates actually appeared more decorative than anything. What wasn't decorative however were the stacks of pillboxes, battlements and towers that studded the kaijus' bodies, each of these defensive structures were filled to bursting with guns, from heavy bolters to plasma cannons to tank turrets, the ork's insane engineering somehow managed to turn Darwin IX's native faunas into walking biological fortresses, and fucking hell Tangmo was impressed, scared shitless but nonetheless impressed. Four kaijus were currently assailing their position, one walked on all four, saurian in appearance with elongated neck that flopped and twisted in a mad cobra like dance. Huge artilleries, the kind that weren't supposed to be mobile, were attached to the kaiju's flanks and back, the quantity ludicrous. Many of the barrels were flashing now and shells whistled all around the battlegroup, none of the ordnance landed close but it was still very scary. The other two looks to be twins of some kind, and were less decked out in orkish weaponries for the simple fact that both were covered in a thick forest of blistering quills, each the size of twelve wheelers, the light of the sun setting the spikes ablaze like a thousand furious torches. But the kaiju taking center stage was…it's basically a white King Kong, yeah, there's nothing more Tangmo can add to that. Oh right, the giant ape was fucking huge, taller than every iteration of Kong that's for sure, and his right arm had been replaced with a gigantic energy cannon of some kind, wreathed in steams and electric bolts, the grinning mugs of Gork and Mork plastered on the surface.

"Yep, fuck this, we're withdrawing," Tangmo deadpanned, and with the main characters and his homies descended back to the ground. "I want everyone to hightail it back to the mine. Solveig to you read me?"

"Go ahead lord commissar," the admiral of the Immortal Spirit fleet answered.

"Halt every transport ship that is about to depart and recall those already en route," Tangmo went on quickly, the quaking footfall was growing in power and octave, "we have a massive kaiju problem on our hands, the mine is no longer secure."

"Shall I order Ae-Shin and her taskforce to turn around also?" Solveig went on. "The commander is about two hundred thousand kilometers from the planet's atmosphere."

"Patch her through," Tangmo waited until he heard the click of switching frequency. "Ae-Shin, yo, don't enter the planet yet, hold your position above the exosphere!"

"What the hell – is it the kaiju again?" Ae-Shin growled, more than eager to go another round with the monsters of Darwin IX. "Don't worry Tangmo, I brought a hundred fighters, fifty bombers, and four Storm Fortresses with me this time, armed with bunker buster armaments, we'll turn those kaiju inside out."

"There are four of them this time and the orks are controlling them dude!" Tangmo flinched when the white King Kong shattered the air with its screeching roar, the bestial howl was quickly joined by the orks' boisterous WAAGGGGHHHH. Goddamn, that shit sounded way too close. "It's four kaijus decked out in heavy weapons, the air force will suffer massive casualties if they attack now, so hold position in orbit, please!"

"Fuck that, we're heading down to your position, I'm watching the live feed right now!" Ae-Shin shot back. "I'm not gonna sit here and do jack shit while all of you die!"

"Do you have high altitude bombers with you Ae-Shin?" Leilatha asked, the lady commissar betrayed nothing but calm placidity as she tapped casually away at the data-pad in her hand, making no reaction as guardsmen and eldars around her started shooting the kaijus.

"Twenty of them are the Stratovarius bombers," Ae-Shin responded. "What do you have in mind?"

"I'm sending the coordinates for bombardment to you now," Leilatha tapped the data-pad screen swiftly. "We are retreating to the mine, and we would greatly appreciate it if the air force can provide cover for us."

"Count on it Leilatha," Ae-Shin responded sharply. "ETA twenty minutes, you better to get a move on because the firework is going to be massive."

"Oh, yes, them," Tangmo, his homies and the main characters all turned to Lakshmi, the Lohid colonel was sheepish as she weathered the Thai commissar's singular regard. "I must apologize, with all the excitement I have forgotten to mention a little detail regarding the ork's arsenal."

"See Lakshmi, I don't think kaiju can be classified as a little detail!" Tangmo made sure his smile was appropriately deranged, and was very satisfied when Lakshmi paled visibly, probably thinking she was about to be blam. But this was no time for jokes, so Tangmo cut the crap and affected a professional bearing. "Seriously though, the orks did this before?"

"They did, after we repelled their attack for a week straight," Lakshmi relaxed visibly when it became clear she wasn't about to be summarily executed. "That was the reason why we barricaded ourselves inside the mine, the kaijus were not able to breach the defenses. Come to think of it, when the ork had first tried this they could barely control the beasts, by the Throne they went feral halfway through the attack."

"The orks had obviously overcome that little handicap," Yuki stroke her chin thoughtfully, not at all bothered by the retreating troops and the roaring kaijus, the gaze she honed on the monsters was placid and inquisitive. "I'll admit, this looks very intimidating, but this is orkish engineering we're talking about. Sure, there are a thousand guns on the kaijus but they're the usual shitty greenskin boom sticks. At the end of the day, besides having to apply extra effort, they should be easy to kill."

Fate really has a dark sense of humor, because the moment Yuki finished her sentence the white King Kong roared in their direction. The physical volume was worse enough, but what accompanied the cacophonic acoustic assault was a glaring line of violet red energy beam that arched menacingly over their collective heads, the heat was of such magnitude that the air continued to shimmer violently even after the horizontal pillar of light disappeared.

"Was that…a freaking King Kong with freaking laser beam attached to his freaking head?!" Tangmo pointed at the white ape.

"That's a freaking King Kong with freaking laser beam attached to his freaking head!" Nikki blurted her confirmation.

"Oh my fucking God Emperor, half of that mountain is gone!" Tangmo gawked at the aforementioned landscape, the top portion reduced to a charcoal stump. "Fuck this shit, everybody haul ass to the mine, now!"


The song Nikki and the Vostroyan sang is called 'The March of the New Army' (Марш нової армії), a Ukrainian military anthem that is a modernized version of 'The March of the Ukrainian Nationalist' (Зродились ми з великої години), the lyrics are a mixture of both versions. As is tradition, the song has been 40k-fied. Oh, and if this wasn't clear before, Слава Україні, ขอให้ยูเครนมีชัยเหนือศัตรูทั้งปวง.