The glow of flame emanated menacingly from the gates; smoke continued to billow upwards obscuring the structure from my direction. The battlefield went eerily quiet for a brief moment before blaring guttural roars exhumed outwardly from all directions. Even the mortally injured Orks that were flung from my Trukk were caught up in the frenzy. I stifled down the urge to scream too, I should... but I won't.
As the screaming reached its apex the Trukks shot forth into the smoke, yet where I expected to hear loud crashing all I instead heard was the screams transform into maniacal laughter beyond the precipice of my perception.
They'd made it in... The crazy bastards actually made it.
Before I knew it my legs were carrying me forwards, I had to mentally stop myself from charging forwards. Fighting my very instincts themselves I managed to root them in place, just in time as several more bright red beams of light fired off towards the down Trukk. Despite the green menace breaching their defences, they refused to cull their attempts at preventing the rest of our forces breaching too.
I wasn't entirely sure what the combat literature was on stuff like this back on Earth but it didn't seem to deter any of my band from pushing onwards anyway. Whether missing limbs, limping or mortally wounded, the incessant brutes plunged on into the fray as if they were missing out on something.
From limps and staggering it turned into full blown sprints, backs hunched and leant forwards, each green mass pushed on as if they were individual trains made of meat. Any retaliation was met with grunts and a shrug off, I wasn't sure what was happening but it seemed as though the troops had gained a second wind.
The two flanking Trukks began circling back around towards the gates, they were dangerously close to the walls and could collide with them at any times. Under the threat of immense gunfire they managed to swerve mostly unharmed, being that close to the walls gave them a useful form of cover. That was until one of the Trukks managed to... I'm not even sure what happened, but it flipped nonetheless, flinging Orks from the wagon off in one big heap.
The flipped Orks quickly got to their feet however, the sand providing a somewhat natural cushioning to the falling beasts. Much like their other compatriots the damage didn't seem to do much to deter them as they continued their frontal assault. The amount of gunfire being projected outwards towards myself and the other Orks outside the walls had lessened considerably. It looked as though the ones that managed to infiltrate inside were already wreaking havoc.
The plan was haphazard, had absolutely no backup plans and had no true nuance to it; yet there was an odd beauty to the chaos that pulled me in. That was to say, if there was even a plan in the first place. If there was, either I wasn't privy to it or this was something that was made up as they went.
Either way it didn't matter, all that did matter was that it was working... Brilliantly. I reckon it was about time that I actually got a move on and entered the fray. As such I allowed my instinctual drive to push me forwards, the eminent threat had lessened substantially and I really wanted to prove myself and get situated into the good books of the upper caste of this warband. Primarily Gorblitz, he is my key into not being knocked around by the more belligerent of the Orks.
One stride after another quickly transitioned into a full blown charge, slinging my shit heap of a rifle over my bulging shoulders I then whipped the rusty blade from my waist into my hands. It was about to get messy and I needed an appropriate weapon for it...
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M41 963, OUTPOST-54C, VORTIGAUNT PRIME, ULTIMA SEGMENTUM.
Corporal Luth's breathing was haggard and his throat was getting tired from all the yelling, he'd tried to call for reinforcements from central command but they were a good ways out. The Orks were coming and there was little he could do about it, their platoon's Lieutenant was out on 'RnR' and as such command lay in the hands of the Sergeant. The same Sergeant that was out patrolling the wastes, the same Sergeant that met their fate at the hands of the Orks, the same Sergeant that had forewarned him of the assault.
Command lay on him, and he was woefully unprepared. Although it was only four Trukks of the greenskin bastards, this outpost had just changed postings and as such they'd only just moved into their digs. There could not have been a worse time for this to happen, hell they weren't even properly outfitted with a full platoon and sat at around half strength.
Yet The Emperor demanded duty, the Emperor demanded loyalty, The Emperor demanded sacrifice.
So he went through the motions, he set them up defensively and set up his only Lascannon team facing outwards. The men under his purview were trained PDF soldiers of the Vortiguant's mightiest, they had seen battle before and were no stranger to bloodshed. But their most recent experience was that of guard duty; boring, slow and easy. Normally this wouldn't matter, a full platoon would be able to easily repel a force of this size. Yet their strength was not up to par.
"SQUAD TWO, SET UP WATCHING SOUTH, SQUAD THREE WATCH EAST, SQUAD ONE AND HEAVY WEAPON SQUAD ONE WATCH NORTH! DON'T LET THEM BREACH THE GATES!" Corporal Luth bellowed outwards, his voice carrying across the base. His vox bead would easily be able to reach all the available squads, but a calm voice here would only betray the urgency of the situation.
"SQUAD FOUR ARE WITH ME! WE'RE WATCHING THE MAIN GATE!" Luth quickly barked as his squad got into positions. Clicking his vox bead once more he growled out "Remaining squads fill in the gaps! Squad leads, exercise your best judgement! Float around all firing vectors, plug in any holes and gaps created!" This command while not yelled still projected urgency in his voice.
"Emperor, deliver us from this green threat... Help see us through these trying times so that we may enact your glory."
The squads moved quickly, orders barked across the base as they moved into position. The recitations of prayer helped calm Luth down, but the worst was yet to come. The Corporal had set up with the only lascannon they had on hand facing forwards towards where he thought the threat would emerge. If they were fully outfitted, they'd easily have at least a couple extra on hand, the one they had would be decisive in victory.
And so they came, first that came into view were the clouds generated by the Trukks' tires digging up the debris, loose sand and fumes that the vehicles themselves created. It was the exact direction that Luth had anticipated them to come from.
"Lascannon crew stand fast!" Luth barked, the lascannon crew was pitiful. There was only one trained individual on the base that could accurately recite the correct litanies and utilise the weapon. With them was an untrained guardsman fulfilling the secondary role of assisting moving it, aiming and callouts. This effectively cut down the effectiveness of the weapon itself by at least twenty-five percent. But it would have to do.
Just as the first of the Trukks came into view and actionable range he flicked his vox-bead and valiantly proclaimed "OPEN FIRE!". The first salvo that fired out was pitiful, effectively zero direct hits. It wasn't until the second and third volley that they started seeing success but by then the Orks had retaliated too. Several men had taken shots and were wounded, but as expected of Vortigaunt's finest they continued the fight until death.
A few volleys too late the lascannon finally fired, annnndd resulting in a sound miss. "Shit.." Luth grumbled to himself. "TIGHTEN YOUR FIRING ANGLES! THE EMPEROR WILL NOT FORGIVE FAILURE!" Luth quickly barked out, in a desperate attempt to both accost and re-focus the men with their fire. The verbal abuse seemed to provide some benefit as the lascannon finally met a target, not the one they were likely aiming for but a target nonetheless...
One of the approaching Trukks was struck true sending it and its occupants in all directions, yet no one dared cheer. Victory was still far from their grasp. The initial engagement didn't last, as the other trukks began to veer off left and right confusing the rusty platoon. Their trained fields of fire quickly fell apart, Luth did not have the training, the expertise nor the talent to fix this issue... All he could do was grit his teeth and fire on.
The next few minutes were horrifying, the greenskins had found their groove and continued to whittle away the forces upon the walls. While damage was reciprocated no true progress was made on either side, and the Orks grew ever closer. But this gave way for the heavy weapons teams to open fire, a single heavy bolter and a krak missile launcher were available for use and they had just now entered their primary range.
The heavy bolter roared as it began its rampage, large bolt rounds pounded into the dirt and Luth could even see it tearing into a few of the greenskins, sending blood and viscera in all directions of those it struck. The battle briefly turned in favour of his men, all to be cemented in victory if they managed to down another one of their Trukks.
A quick glance to the launcher confirmed that they were about to fell another, adrenaline surged and he could taste victory. Until it all came crashing down... The guardsman wielding the launcher was hit. "GET UP GUARDSMAN! DO YOUR DUTY!" Luth screamed and to his amazement the guardsman did exactly that, he got back up and took aim once more.
Only to be hit again, just as he fired... The rocket veered off course, and yet not all hope seemed lost as the guardsman in question was taken out. Another took his place, such was the indomitable will of the human spirit, the next guardsman reloaded and prepared their next shot. Only to once more be felled. "WHAT THE FRAKK?!" Luth bellowed in panic.
Since when was Ork fire ever this accurate... How would they even know to target the launcher, something sketchy was going on.
BOOM
The base's walls rumbled as something had hit the front gates hard. Luth had been too preoccupied to notice the Trukk's that had gotten dangerously close to the front gates. Thankfully it was only one salvo, the gates wou---
Creak
Luth's thoughts were quickly interrupted as the frontal gates began to creak and moan, but they held on... Barely, just one more attack and they'd be done for. Flicking his vox-bead once more Luth prepared to speak. Yet there would be no time, as a second--
BOOM
The gates creaked once more before falling backwards violently, they had breached the front gates... The tide had shifted in the favour of the greenskins, the front gate was breached and through the smoke all that came was the laughter of death and the roar of engines...