Chapter 26Forge
In high orbit above the war ravaged critical civilised world of Broadmeadow a complex space battle was currently about to begin. On one side was the Imperial Navy fleet and their space marine fleet and Adeptus Mechanicus fleet allies, on the other was a large swarm of ramshackle crude smallish ork Onslaught Attack Ships ferrying millions of ork troop reinforcements to the planet surface.
The Onslaught attack ships were (relatively) small (1 to 2 kilometres long), and not that hard to defeat if you could just get big cruisers and battle cruisers close enough to blow them up with a few broadside volleys from their macro cannons and lance cannons. Unfortunately this just wasn't an option above this critical agriculture heavy civilised world.
The reason this wasn't an option was because of the filthy types of nuclear fuel the orks were fond of using. The main reactor cores on the average ork vessels were nuclear fusion powered and more or less "clean" in what they used and what they produced, (sort of). The problem was all the dirty nuclear fission powered *secondary* backup power reactors onboard whose fuel was anything but clean.
The radioactive isotope Polonium 210 was about the most high octane nuclear fission fuel that exists by power to weight ratio per second, and these orks were fond of using Polonium 210 (among other nasty radioactive stuff) to fuel some of their secondary power plants onboard their ships. The problem was that Polonium 210 was quite UNBELIEVABLY toxic, 250 THOUSAND times more toxic than hydrogen cyanide, a single gram of the stuff was theoretically capable of poisoning to death 50 million humans and non lethally sickening 50 million more. And these ork ships carried WELL OVER a single gram of Polonium 210.
Blowing up one of these ships above Broadmeadow would potentially spray Polonium 210 isotope dust everywhere in the blast, some of it would probably hit the upper atmosphere of Broadmeadow and rain down to the surface, poisoning the fertile soils and bountiful oceans with this deadly radioactive toxin. That would quickly kill any prospect of growing food on this planet, the food would be too toxic to eat assuming the crop plants and edible sea life even survived at all. The Imperial Navy and their allies could not allow this to come to pass.
This fact limited the engagement options enormously to attacks that didn't cause any serious structural damage to the ork Onslaught Attack Ships.
Currently in high orbit the Ferrous Prime Basilikon Astra (Adeptus Mechanicus Navy) Defiant class light cruiser "Napier's Constant" was moving into careful position, every movement in careful coordination with their Imperial Navy and space marine allies. Ahead of the "Napier's Constant" flew a chaotic swarm of dozens of 1 to 2 kilometre long ork Onslaught attack ships heading straight for the planet, the ships doubtless stuffed to near their carrying capacity with ork infantry and vehicles and supplies.
The Napier's Constant was a space based carrier vessel by configuration, an outer space aircraft carrier who's 3.8 kilometre long hull was filled with launch bays for entire air wings of fighters and bombers and assault boats. She was a sleek and elegant craft of gleaming crimson painted steel and steel based meta materials, flawlessly crafted by the shipwrights of Ferrous Prime and covered all over with sensors and data collecting systems and radar scanners to a technology level unavailable to the Imperial Navy vessels. Her efficiency in operations also far exceeded her Imperial Navy counterparts with ships of the same class due to her superior crew of mostly cyborgs and servitors and high intelligence Menials, she performed her duties with mechanical perfection.
The Napier's Constant kept her distance from the orks, staying off to one side out of gun range but keeping within air craft range. Other vessels of allies got into similar positions of their own with less speed and efficiency than the Napier's Constant, the incoming ork ships carefully surrounded on all sides by ships with air assault carrier capacities. The ork ships were about an hour away from the planet in this extreme high orbit with the vagaries of their unpredictable engines, it was imperative that the armies of reinforcements they carried not reach the surface alive.
At a signal from their imperial allies the Napier's Constant activated the electromagnetic launch catapults in their launch bays, catapulting out an entire flight wing of Shark Assault Boats filled with savage Skitarii warriors specially chosen and equipped for this mission.
In the vacuum of space the assault boats were silent as they engaged their engines to approach the distant ork ships in randomly zigzagging approach vectors.
The ork ships opened fire on the assault boats, but they had appalling accuracy and struggled to hit the zigzagging things, flak and shrapnel and huge bullets shooting past in the vacuum of space.
One of the assault boats randomly got hit by a huge rusty bullet the size of a human torso, the bullet ripped right through the front and out the back, amputating limbs and entire torsos from Skitarii passengers in the path of the bullet. The assault boat lost power and couldn't manoeuvre, it was soon hit by more bullets that perforated it with so many holes that only dead scrap metal remained.
Other assault boats got hit, even glancing hits did horrific damage with bullets this big, hit boats did not survive long unless they were very lucky, dead bits of Skitarii floated out of huge holes as the stricken boats were Swiss cheesed with enormous volumes of "dakka".
But the majority of the assault boats evaded the defensive gunfire with mathematical precision, zigzagging wildly to dodge and evade incoming projectiles. Soon they were closing in to their terminal approach vectors, engines manoeuvring flawlessly to bring the armoured flat prows of the boats in with just the right amount of speed to embed through the ork ship hulls with the help of melta breachers, sticking like metal thorns with airtight gaps through the rusty metal ork hulls.
Panel doors blew out forwards into the interior of the ship from explosive bolts detonating, and leaping out behind the flying panel doors were huge mechanical horrors with sinister metal limbs and horrifying weaponry.
Stunned orks inside the ork ship were still laying sprawling over the decks from the impact and subsequent exploding panels of the assault boat, they didn't even have time to get up and gather their wits before the attack started.
On top of the dome shaped durasteel heads of the leading metal monsters, optical strobe light emitters emitted searing light with retina frying brightness to render the orks temporarily blind. Sonic emitters next to the light emitters projected an ear splitting never ending scream so loud that it rendered the orks temporarily deaf.
The orks barely had time to reel back from this audio visual assault before the metal monsters were upon them.
The Skitarii Sicarian Infiltrator "Exponential" laughed with psychotic glee as his servo muscled metal limbs sprung his metal body forward with concussive force, slamming into the chest of a blinded ork with the inertia of a pneumatic ram.
There was a sickening shift in the ork's chest as his entire rib cage shattered from having something metal and heavy ram into him with so much force.
The ork didn't even drop from this traumatic injury, instead wrapping Exponential's metal body in a crushing bear hug with his huge green flesh arms. Exponential kneed the ork between the legs with his metal knee with so much force that his knee plunged up into the ork's guts when the entire flesh and bone pelvis gave way, but still the ork didn't go down.
The bear hug was getting very tight now, threatening to bend something important. The ork's arms were bleeding as they crushed into the metal body of the Sicarian Infiltrator, the ork's flesh traumatised by the pressure, but still the ork didn't relent. Exponential's knee repeatedly kneed higher and higher into the ork's exposed guts, reeking ork intestines mashed to a paste by repeated impacts from the metal knee.
Exponential was getting sick of this bear hug and touched the prongs of his Taser Goad close combat weapon to the ork's leg with one of Exponential's partially trapped arms.
With an almighty ZAP and sizzle that was drowned out by the scream of the audio emitters, the ork was electrocuted until it's tough fungal flesh died in the voltage, Exponential himself completely immune to his own electricity.
The dead ork held Exponential bear hugged in a death grip, and Exponential simply kept attacking other orks with the corpse attached to him in a death grip. Exponential used his onboard sonar system to "see" through the flesh of his dead ork, he bounded forward with his metal legs and slammed the ork corpse into another ork like a ram.
The new ork confusedly grappled with the ork corpse that was ramming into him, Exponential touched his Taser Goad to the corpse again and electrocuted the new ork through the flesh of the old.
Exponential now had two ork corpses stuck to him in a death grip, it was getting heavy. Exponential electrocuted the dead meat again and again until the muscles were so cooked that he could break free, the bodies steaming with heat as he stepped away from them.
Exponential was surrounded by fellow Sicarian Infiltrators butchering and electrocuting orks in a savage massacre, strobe lights and audio screams blinding and deafening the orks with sensory overload so that they were much easier to fight.
The inside of the ork Onslaught attack ship was a BLASPHEMY to the Cult Mechanicus, it was made out of tortured stolen machines that had been hacked apart and welded back together in ways that were WRONG! That bit did NOT go with that other bit! The orks had RUINED sacred machines and stitched them into this blasphemous Frankenstein's monster of a ship!
Not only was the entire ship a chamber of horrors with mutilated machines unnaturally welded into these horrific new forms that violated the sacred perfection of the original human machinery, but the orks hadn't even MAINTAINED this grotesque Frankenstein's monster of a ship, it was rusted half through and had literal small hull breaches patched with DUCT TAPE!
Exponential was aghast and enraged as he stalked through the ork packed guts of this poor desecrated ship, instead of neat clean corridors and rooms it had huge open spaces with a forest of rusting beams holding up scaffolding shanty towns crowded with orks! The ship had very few true decks, and they all served simply as a base platform to hold up these multi-storey scaffold towns! The outer hull was little more than an armoured bubble to keep the air in so that orks could build TOWNS inside!
This blasphemy and cruelty to machines must be avenged. Exponential raised up his Flechette Blaster pistol and aimed it at the thickest cluster of blinded deafened orks.
The flechette blaster was akin to a hose that sprayed out razor sharp metal, it couldn't penetrate steel plates beyond the thinnest but it was a very effective "pressure washer" for hosing weak flesh from the harder bits like bones.
Exponential fired his flechette blaster and a spray of metal blasted out incessantly. The orks that were hit were cleansed of their weak squishy flesh, Exponential hosed them down, the ork meat shooting away under the spray leaving only clean bones.
It was very satisfying to hose away this filthy flesh, standing orks were flechette stripped of every rag of meat, leaving gleaming polished skeletons that collapsed to the floor a moment later. Ork after ork was cleansed of their flesh, leaving lovely clean skeletons littering the floor.
Exponential was just getting really in the zone when he ran down to his last clip of ammunition!
Exponential unhappily saved his last clip, reloading his flechette blaster but not firing it.
Exponential charged forward with his taser goad, stabbing an ork in the face and electrocuting him so that his sizzling eyeballs ran down his face in liquid form.
Another ork finally got smart and figured out that the blinding light and deafening screaming meant that they were under attack. The ork pulled out a crude inelegant stick bomb grenade, pulling out the pin with rambunctious glee. The ork then enthusiastically threw the pin at Exponential and kept holding the stick bomb.
The pin bounced harmlessly off Exponential's metal head, the stick bomb exploded and shredded off the ork's forearm.
The ork scratched his head in confusion with his remaining hand, Exponential stabbed the ork in the face with his taser goad, electrocuting the ork to death.
Exponential was having fun killing these blasphemous aliens but this was taking a long time, they needed to cleanse this ship before it landed in an hour and this was taking a long time. The ship was still teaming with more orks than Exponential could kill in the time limit without damaging the ship too much.
Exponential and the other Sicarian Infiltrators changed strategy after the leading Skitarii Marshal ordered a new strategy in the face of this futility.
Exponential and the other Sicarian Infiltrators ignored the majority of the orks and instead went hunting for the weapons batteries and defensive turrets all over the ship, planning to make it easier for more forces to board the ship to reinforce the attack.
Exponential climbed up a scaffold against the inner wall of the outer hull with mechanical strength, soon coming upon a large hole cut in the hull with crates of enormous bullets piled up on the scaffold platform in front of the hole. Exponential entered the hole, blinding and deafening a large number of smaller orkoid gretchin manning a gigantic gun.
With so much bullet propellant powder sitting around the gun in sacks Exponential dared not use his taser goad. Exponential instead used his bare metal hand to punch the face of the nearest gretchin, Exponential's servo muscles drove the fist right through the gretchin's face and out the back of his head, killing it immediately.
Suddenly something struck Exponential's back with so much force that he was sent flying to crush several gretchin!
Exponential got up instantly and looked around with his eyes as well as his sonar system, unable to see any threats?
Something struck him again, sending him flying. His strobe lights and audio scream emitter were shattered by the strike!
Exponential desperately flicked through different frequencies of his optical sensors, he switched to deep ultraviolet spectrum and everything turned purple. In front of him he could detect an ork shaped figure in a slightly different shade of purple, wearing ear muffs and welding goggles and holding an enormous metal club!
The ork swung his club and this time Exponential dodged the strike.
"How you see through me purple camo ya metal git?" A deep ork voice growled in confusion.
"I switched my eyes to only see purple, alien filth." Exponential replied, raising his taser goad in challenge.
"That is a neat trick, necron tin head boy. Much as I like a good scrap I am confused why you necrons are fightin us in humie space, dis ain't ya fight but ya welcome to join it of course." The purple ork offered with actual respect.
"I am no necron, I'm a human…"
"Ha ha good one, but I is being serious. Do you tin heads want to join the waaagh? You ever consider being allies with us orks an we fight the humies together?" The purple ork offered.
"You seek other xenos allies to join your hostilities against humanity?" Exponential asked, this was valuable strategic data that could be critical enough to justify delaying in slaying the ork to talk to him.
"We not ask just any old gits, but you metal heads is different. Word 'as it that you necron boys have so much dakka that back at the start of the world you killed even gods. It's said by some that we orks was originally created to fight you metal heads in the greatest ever war long long ago back when da stars were young, that makes us have the most special bond of all, enemies made for each other. Good enemies like you lot is special, so special that we can work with ya cause you is such good enemies you become like friends." The ork said philosophically, putting his finger to his forehead as though this was impressive logic and wisdom.
"There will be no alliance!" Exponential said quickly lest something so horrific actually came to pass.
"Well then we have a good old scrap like old times, nothing wrong with dat." The purple ork said happily and raised his club.
Exponential touched the ork's metal club with the prongs of his taser goad, sparks flew and the purple ork had a cardiac arrest, dropping the club. The body suddenly became visible the moment the ork died, his naked ork body was completely painted head to toe with garish purple paint.
Exponential continued his assigned rampage silencing the guns, he was deeply concerned about the mere possibility of the orks being open to an alliance with the necrons. Exponential radio relayed everything the ork had said and done in a visual audio recording file before he electrocuted yet another ork.
…
The Skitarii and other borders were ultimately unsuccessful in turning back or emptying any of the ork onslaught attack ships before they landed. The ships were stuffed with more orks than could be killed in an hour and it was too dangerous to try to hijack the ships as they came in to land, lest they crash and spread radioactive filth into the environment of Broadmeadow.
The Sicarian Infiltrators were still onboard the vessel killing orks even as it ploughed down into a meadow in a semi-soft landing, retrorockets setting the entire meadow ablaze as the ork ship landed with a thud. The Sicarian Infiltrators were very low on ammunition now, and those with damaged strobes and audio scream emitters were forced to move alongside fellow infiltrators with working emitters for safety.
The orks and gretchin cut huge holes in the hull in place of doors and walked out into the burning meadow even as infiltrators continued to kill them, the orks were simply too numerous to kill, hundreds of thousands of orks marching out along with trucks full of supplies and military vehicles driving out. This was not a successful mission.
The infiltrators were technically speaking "invisible and silent" to the orks, so they simply marched off after the orks and continued to tirelessly harass them. They each carried electric batteries with them that they had stolen from the orks, to recharge their power cells behind enemy territory, they lacked ammunition but they could still electrocute orks in close combat for quite some time.
They might not be able to kill this many orks but they could still hit strategic targets and gather military intelligence, hopefully turning the tide of the war.
This was just the beginning of their fight.
…