The Thunderhawk dropped down deep inside the giant crater. The ship's anti-gravitational system turned on-line as the main engines shut down. The warship gently drifted, its landing struts slowly dropped down and touched against the uneven surface of the crater. 'Uzimel, bring our brothers out of stasis.' commanded Voltron, leader of the force of Fallen Angels. 'All three squads, sir?' Voltron nodded his head, and then slipped on his helmet. Three squads of Deathwing terminators, nine to a squad along with their veteran sergeants began to move inside their individual stasis chambers. The marines stepped out and suited up. Their power fists sparkled. 'The Dark Angels here are engaged with the Ork warband.' Voltron telepathically spoke to them. 'It appears they have not detected our presence, or else they don't have any resources to spare. As you are all aware, we are here on a secret mission. I will quickly debrief you. The Dark Angels use this asteroid to hold our captured brothers before they are returned to the Rock for their final interrogation. Our mission is to destroy this base. If we are successful then it will seriously cripple the Dark Angels' covert agenda. Second, we have an excellent opportunity to free any of our brothers held here. The prison is located beneath their armory.' The first squad carried two sets of assault cannons and cyclone missile launchers. The second squad consisted solely of storm bolters and power fists, beside their sergeant's power sword. The third squadron trailed behind with two sets of lightning claws, thunderhammers and storm shields. Uzimel also wore a suit of golden artificer armor. Both Voltron and Uzimel had taken the suits from a band of Blood Angels they had killed in hand-to-hand combat. Uzimel fastened a force field generator to his breastplate. They all followed Voltron down the landing ramp. The commander led them to bottom of the crater. His suit of golden artificer armor glowed. They approached an entrance to a tunnel camouflaged by rock. Voltron bent over, opened the hatch, and stepped inside. The tunnel was dark and dipped steeply down into the surface of the asteroid. The commander kept moving until the tunnel flattened. 'From here the tunnel continues until it intersects with the Dark Angels' underground base. The armory and prison are located on another tunnel that spurs off from the command center.' said Voltron. 'I sense this area is clear. Let's move on. We should reach the hub in less than five minutes.' 'Sir, the external sensors indicate that an Imperial ship has landed beside our base. However, no friendly beacon has been broadcast. We can't hail them either.' said the space marine to the Dark Angel captain. 'Whoever they are, they've come unannounced.' 'Hopefully they're reinforcements. The number of Orks is unbelievable!' said Captain Athmol. 'It doesn't make any sense that they wouldn't contact us first.' 'Should we attempt to send a search party?' 'We need every marine here. Keep trying to summon them.' The sudden sound of an Ork zap gun exploding rocked them both. 'It sounds like the Orks have reached the inner perimeter.' Voltron maintained his telepathic link with his traitor brothers. 'We have reached the other hatch.' He gripped the lever jutting from the floor with both hands and pushed it down. Dust clouds swirled about and were sucked out by the atmosphere of the underground base. 'Keep moving.' Voltron bent down and crawled through the opening followed by Uzimel. One after another the terminators slowly lumbered through behind them and looked about at their new surroundings. 'Plant the fusion charges every 25 meters.' The commander told one of his sergeants. The sound of a commotion could be heard inside the base, but its source was unseen. They could hear the air whistle through the breeched hatch. 'Squads Primus and Secondus form a firing line now!' said the commander. The first squadron kneeled down while the second squadron remained standing behind them. All twenty of the terminators raised their storm bolters. 'I didn't foresee that the Orks would overrun the base.' Uzimel was standing beside Voltron, also holding his storm bolter. He pointed with it, 'Here they come!' A large mob of green-skinned Orks charged through the hallway in front of them. The Fallen Angels looked into the horde of aliens as the enemy swelled forward. 'Fire!' shouted Voltron. The two rows of black armored terminators took turns blasting bolts into the oncoming wave of Orks. They quickly found their targets and burst on impact, exploding bloody chunks of green bits all about. Voltron lobbed a couple of frag grenades over the first few rows; the Orks were crowding each other to reach the traitor marines first. Both grenades sailed into the center of the mob, detonating and simultaneously clearing a small circle. The Orks howled at each other as they blew apart. The storm bolters thundered again, wiping out more of the enemy. However, more Orks poured ahead, pushing each other through the hallway. Voltron laughed as he watched the Orks struggle, 'Look, they're still crowding each other, they're still anxious to get at us. It's forcing them to slow down a bit. Keep up the firepower! We'll have to thin the green-skins down before we engage them.' The commander threw a couple more of his grenades at the Orks and continued laughing when he saw them flinch. The ensuing explosion took the Orks' heads off. 'Bring the assault cannons and cyclone missile launchers forward immediately.' The heavy weapons moved up to the front rank of the Fallen Angels and blazed. Finally the enemy started to drop back. 'Spread apart brothers!' Two rows of terminators standing in front of Voltron divided. The commander concentrated, his helmet glowing. Uzimel stood beside him and could feel the heat building. Then a huge fireball shot out from the visor of Voltron's helmet, streaking into the sunken entrance of the hallway. The terminators listened to the screams of Orks and smelled their enemy's flesh burn. Voltron pulled a black power sword fashioned from obsidian out of its filigreed sheath and raised the long blade above his head. 'Squad Trios by my side, let's move in!' Lightning claws flashed and thunderhammers rose. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Captain Athmol reloaded his storm bolter and immediately fired into the oncoming green-skins. 'I wonder how they found out about our deep-space base.' he thought. 'They knew our exact location. It's so well-hidden, someone had to have informed them.' Another mob of Orks was making its way through a ruptured doorway. An extremely large black Ork covered from head to foot in mega-armor carried bloody battleaxes in each hand and stepped through, glaring at the Dark Angel captain. 'That's the warlord! By the Emperor, he is a giant!' said Athmol. Not hesitating one moment, he drew his glowing power sword and charged. The huge black Ork also charged. A speeding battleaxe knocked the captain back, blasting the air from his lungs. Athmol quickly rolled out of the way of the other descending axe. He raised his sword and parried the next blow. The warlord swirled around in a tight circle, hacking at two other space marines that had come to aid of their leader. The black Ork finished them off with two quick blows. Athmol struck at the warlord while his attention was diverted, but the shimmering blade bounced harmlessly off the Ork's thick plates of armor. He was able to slash again before his large opponent could turn to face him. The tip of the power sword found a small gap in the mega-armor and drew blood. The Ork cursed aloud and backhanded the captain into the wall with his smaller battleaxe. He then drove the other axe straight at the Dark Angel's head. Athmol pivoted but the brute force of the blow wrenched his sword arm back at a sickening angle. The captain shuddered as pain wracked through his body. Another space marine broke free from the mass of aliens and fired three rounds from his bolter at the warlord. Two of the burning shells bounced off the mega-armor and exploded. The black Ork suddenly dropped one of his battleaxes and caught the third shell with his bare hand, crushing it in his fist. The bolt burst and the warlord smacked the burning palm of his hand across the space marine's helmet. Then the huge Ork spun around and kicked the marine away, and then he pulled a warhammer from his belt. The hammer struck the Dark Angel's helmet and wrenched his helmet loose. 'Give me strength, Emperor.' Captain Athmol prayed. The warlord swung the warhammer with great speed and broke the captain's sword in two. The Ork swung again and struck him in his midsection. Athmol saw large flashes of blinking light appear before his eyes as the warhammer tore threw his power armor. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 'Excellent my fallen brothers, not one loss.' said Voltron. Ork blood dripped from their lightning claws and bits of bone fell from the heads of the thunderhammers. The commander kicked aside the head of a dead Ork. Uzimel and the first two squads moved up beside Voltron and the assault squad. 'Let's continue on, we're close to the command center. We can bypass it since it's not part of our objective. We're here to penetrate the prison. If any of our brothers are here, then we can attempt to free them. The Orks came here because my agent informed them that Chaos enchanted weapons are stored in the armory. However, the aliens were given the wrong location regarding the armory. They were meant to be a diversion for the Dark Angels. They've unknowingly breeched the command center, where the Dark Angels main force resides. Hopefully they will keep each other occupied long enough for us to accomplish our mission and escape unheeded by either party.' 'The armory is hidden behind this false wall, we can pass right through it.' Voltron slowly walked forward and disappeared as he passed through solid rock. It's a holograph.' he laughed. 'Come along.' The terminators approached the façade and marched through one by one. The commander waited until they had all entered a large room, he then pushed a small panel activating hidden lights. There was row upon row of standard marine weapons and munitions. 'Let's take this opportunity to restock our spent ammunition.' Voltron said. Everyone reloaded. Uzimel followed his commander down a corridor while the terminators finished. 'Are there actually any power weapons kept here?' |
THE BLACK ORK By ( Steve Turner ) |
SAGAS OF THE FALLEN ANGELS |
