An unceremonious splash of red escaped from the corpse of the Alien, crimson and reminiscent of human blood. They were likely to be oxygen breathing organisms, using iron in much the same way that my old body used too. Although I supposed that wasn't too strange, Ork blood was red too after all. However it was much darker than usual, adding to my growing dysmorphia. Something felt nostalgic as I watched the corpse below me, shaking off the feeling I watched Gorblitz, waiting for the order to mount back up.
Gorblitz, however, was already moving. Kneeling down he pulled out an absurdly large knife from a sheathe strapped to his left thigh. It was jagged, rusty and beat up. I doubted that it would do anything but leave a nasty rent in flesh, not sharp enough to cut through it. Yet to my surprise, the hulking beast placed it against the throat of the 'Umie' and in one singular motion sliced directly through the throat, decapitating it.
I saw a strange visage underneath the amour, a darker skin tone covered in the crimson of blood. This felt eerily familiar to me, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. My thoughts were quickly washed from my mind as the warband let out a battle cry, caught up in the moment my breath got caught in the back of my throat begging to be released. Swallowing it down I walked back up to my designated trukk and hopped into it.
'I will not become one of them.' I thought to myself. But I wasn't sure I could even distinguish a part of myself from them anymore. Something had already fundamentally changed, and I hated it. How much longer until I was screaming with these beasts, how long until I could no longer be sated and desired battle at every waking moment...
After Gorblitz show, the remaining Orks began stripping down the weapons and bits from the 'Umiez' and loading them up upon the trukks. The strange looking blocky rifles were loaded up first and then small trinkets, the electronics were tossed aside as I doubted the Orks would even know what to do with them.
Once the loot had been excavated and requisitioned, the sounds of the Trukk's heavy engines began to roar. One spluttered out for a moment, before a small green creature climbed from the beneath the bonnet whispering a few things to one of the Ork's leading the trukk. After a few words the Grot was slammed into the same bonnet turning into a bloody mist and pool of viscera. The concussive force seemingly knocked something into place with the engine as it roared to life and the Trukk shot off.
Rukkfang, my Trukk's leader guffawed before shooting off into the desert leaving the desecrated corpses behind. Where I expected to feel fear for the upcoming conflict, I only felt excitement, to such a level that my hands were shaking in anticipation. Gripping my shoota to help alleviate the shakes a nearby Ork that I'd never had the displeasure of meeting spoke up.
"HEH, ORKGRUB 'ERE IS SO EXCITED, DA GITS SHAKIN'!" It bellowed causing the rest in the trukk to begin hollering and laughing in response. With a few slaps to the head, arm and back I gave back a forceful toothy grin. 'I hate this...' but some deep primal part of me, began to resonate with it.
------------------------------------10 Minutes Later--------------------------------------
As we fired across the dunes I finally began to notice something in the distance, smoke and structures. They were strangely... Gothic in architecture. Like something straight out of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany, only if it were built in the future. Metal spires with particularly sharp extremities. Eagle iconography was just about spattered across the entire outpost. This was a stark contrast to the armour and weapons that the Aliens were wielding. From blocky and functional to over the top architecture and symbols, it gave me whiplash. Even more so than Rukkfang's terrible driving.
"WE'Z 'ERE LADZ!" Gorblitz screamed, I barely heard his voice over the noise of the engines. Yet I felt the words reverberate in my very soul. At least until his voice and trukks were drowned out by what sounded like thunder. Quickly that idea was put aside as a hail of bullets and red beams of light began flying out from the outpost. We were still at a decent distance and as such the threat for now was minimal, but it grew moment by moment.
Thankfully Rukkfang's horrendous driving proved to be useful here, as we hit dunes, rocks and boulders it jolted the trukk back and forth creating an unpredictable hunk of bounding metal. The very few shots that did strike our vehicles did very little to damage the metallic structure. The crude design working surprisingly well to fend off the advanced weaponry.
These Orks never fail to surprise me.
After we reached about 500 meters away, our little cavalcade began opening fire. Much like back in the firing range, the bullets landed absolutely no where near their opponents. They seemed to be happy enough just shooting their weapons, creating as much noise and 'Dakka' as possible. Eventually I decided it would be best that I joined in too, placing my shoota upon the chassis of the trukk hoping to stabilise the weapon I began firing careful shots.
Unfortunately at this distance it was incredibly difficult to actually hit anything, that and the stabilisation the trukk gave was as unreliable as just about any Ork technology. The shaking, vibrations and swerving doing their absolute best to throw off my aim. Thankfully even a broken clock is right two times a day, and as such the 'Umies' began taking some, if very minimal casualties.
My biological enhanced eyesight allowed me to see much farther than my old self, who had terrible eyesight. I could see several armoured figures going down after several shots had punctured through their armour.
But we were not left unscathed either, several of our... Companions... had taken hits too. Knocking some of them down, but they were not out of the fight. If I had to describe Ork's in one word it'd be robust. They were incredibly adaptive and resilient to just about every kind of damage and wounds one could receive. Those currently incapacitated would not be out of the fight for long.
We drew closer, and I began to grow more excited. The shaking had now stopped and I felt my consciousness slipping, panicking for a moment I tried to pull myself out of the state. Yet instead of falling into unconsciousness I felt my mind grow sharper, my instincts grew hotter and the embers in my soul began to fan into a great flame. I was entering a flow state, I'd only been like this a few times before. In moments of great stress and focus, but I managed to slip into it seamlessly. This Orkish physiology was giving me more boons than I could have ever of dreamed of.
It was then that my instincts screamed at me, a great danger was hurdling towards myself and the trukk. One that even Rukkfang's terrible driving couldn't save us from. In a split decision my body moved on its own, I leapt off the Trukk that was hurdling towards the enemy outpost. In that moment I spotted a thick blue laser fire from the fortifications. It slammed into the trukk as though it had a physical presence outside of just hyper charged particles. It should have no mass, yet it brought the trukk to an abrupt stop flipping it and melting through its components and parts.
My world spun as I hit the ground with a dull thud, my world tossed up and over multiple times before I came to a stop. Despite having sand in places I didn't know existed I was unharmed, hell I didn't even feel any pain. Gritting my teeth I grounded myself and looked onwards, the trukk was now a blazing mess of metal with a few Ork bodies strewn around. I didn't know if they were dead, nor did I care. My mind or what was left of it at this point was entirely focused on the enemy infont of me.
The outpost was now only around 150 meters away. For a moment I didn't move, staying perfectly still, hoping not to draw fire. I was a sitting duck here, out in the open. I had to find cover and fire back. Quickly scanning from left to right I found a nice rock to perch myself upon. Sucking in a deep breath of air, I prepared myself to move.
"Three...Two...One..." I whispered to myself before taking off, I moved quick and deftly but this was to my own detriment. I was spotted by those on the fortifications and they opened fire upon me, I was still a good distance from cover and I had to traverse a field of fire before I could even reach it.
Suddenly I felt a pang of dulled pain in my left abdomen, not even bothering to look down I took another shot in my right upper shoulder blasting meat and blood across the desert. I faltered, the force was much greater than the last shot.
My heart raced as more bullets and lasers peppered the sand below me causing it to either turn into glass or tear up. I took another hit to my left thigh, it was over... I was sure to die here. Gritting my teeth, I prepared for one last hail mary. I had to leap the final 10 meters, with a damage leg or I would surely die.
"FUCK YOU GOD!" I screamed as I pushed from the ground, leaping forwards...