Ninth Jump (Light of Terra Part 1: Part 3)

They’re Fucking Ogres… in Space!

            I dived behind the one piece of cover that we had, barely missing the Eldar that had been hiding behind it and firing off blasts of psychic power toward the Ogryn. Fire washed over the cover, roaring over the both of us (And the three squadmates that were currently huddled up against us.) with a roar of righteousness from our enemies. “So… We’ve lost the Sarjant in that blast of fire…” I stated just as a charred corpse flopped onto the ground beside me with a sickening thud. “One of the others is currently being tore in half. They have lost three of their own, but the last seventeen of their tribe are currently running up. Good so far, right?”

            ‘Your kind really have hope where none lie, don’t they?’ Carwyn stated before standing up and launching a beam of psychic energy that tore apart the flesh and bone of one of the Ogryn, the beast of a man falling to the ground. “Yeah, but I have been in worse before. I got a great idea, but it is also terrible and possibly suicidal. You’re a good shot, right?” As I spoke, I pulled the partially depleted hydrogen flask out of my plasma gun and quickly resealed the cell. “Hydrogen isn’t exactly stable in this state... Toss and shoot.”

            Before even giving the Eldar the chance to react, I quickly tossed the cell over the cover toward a group of five Ogryn as they gathered up. Utilizing their hate, the psyker reacted faster than most humans and directed a blast of psychic power toward the hydrogen flask as it closed in on the Ogryn. With a small roar and an eruption of both a bright flash and plasma, the brutes were coated in super-heated matter, a few of their flamers erupting in fire to add to the conflagration.

            We both ducked back down behind the cover as the remaining squad members cheered to themselves with a few claps and nudges, one of which tried to give the Eldar a hug, but ended up with a hand pushing his nose back to keep him at bay. ‘Give me a warning next time.’ He/She stated as I took a moment to reload my plasma gun. “Heh, you’re an Eldar. You’re probably fast enough to do that again. Oh and you’re welcome for the idea.” I gave my companion a smug grin as they glanced over the cover to see if the remaining Redeemers were advancing. ‘Those brutes seem to be going around. That will give us a few moments to run to the staircase. If your brain is developed well enough, I think that you will agree that is the best course of action.’

            “Hmm… We could finish them off, but it might be best. You go ahead with the three we have left. No time to mourn or recover the fallen. Well, except for one…” I grabbed the Sarjant by his burnt, ash-coated arm and dragged him closer. I slipped him over my shoulders as I climbed up to my feet. I handed the plasma gun over to one of the other men and drew my pistol, making sure that the Sarjant’s corpse was slung over my shoulders where I had one hand free. “If we can get to the Kin of Iron, we might be able to find another way around.”

            As we started off toward the staircase, Carwyn glanced my way and motioned for me to drop the dead man’s body. ‘Leave him behind, there is no worth in bringing him along.’ Considering that he/she was an Eldar and held little, if any, value for Humans, I simply gave a small huff and continued through the hallway. “There is sentimental worth… Recovering the dead is important when you can. Your kind have spirit stones, we have bodies. I am sure that you understand.” I stated as we went along. That seemed to silence my new… friend’s… complaints on the spot.

            We got to the staircase just as a few Ogryn burst through a door further down the hallway. “Shit. Run!” I stated as we started down the staircase, the man with the plasma gun shooting at the Ogryn rather blindly as we went. Right… They don’t have guns and he probably has no practice. He slowly backed up till he was at the edge of the staircase from what I saw, but was much too slow. All I heard was the cry of a chainsword and the tearing flesh of the squadmate… Of course, the clanking of an object going down the stairs was an interesting addition.

            At the bottom of the stairs, I handed the body over to one of the final two squadmates. “Keep going. Get Carwyn and your asses to the Kin. I’ll catch up.” I ran up the stairs and caught the plasma gun as it came down before retreating, ducking down to avoid a swipe of an Eviscerator that started to cut into the wall of the stairs. ‘What are you doing, Mon-keigh!?’ I heard from downstairs. I ran past Carwyn and ran off toward the two that had gotten some headway on us, the Eldar just now coming after me. “Something stupid.” I set the plasma gun on its minimal setting and turned around, putting my pistol away as I did.

            As the Ogryn-like beasts came down the stairs, spouting things about the Golden-Man and how we are heretics that must be purged. I fired two-round bursts at each Ogryn that came down the stairs, their sheer size making it difficult for them to come out of the doorway in more than twos. The growing number of bodies made it even more difficult, the plasma tearing through armor and into their flesh with every hit. Because of their size, it wasn’t too difficult to aim for the area around the shoulders and head with decent success.

            As a third one fell, the Eldar stepped up and began to send blasts of power toward the doorway, as well. They began to stack up, however, two more falling before they finally pushed out of the doorway and rushed forward in a growing horde. There were only six left, but we still turn and ran, ducking around a corner that Carwyn led me toward as a gout of fire came forth. We sprinted forward, only managing to catch up to our squadmates simply because of the body they were carrying. ‘You’re trying to get yourself killed, aren’t you?’

            We continued down the hallway and turned another corridor, the Ogryn following right behind us from the sound of the running chainswords and their calls that were apparently pulled from a book on the Imperial Creed, but had been warped over time… and through the apparent loss of their intelligence due to… What did the commander say? In-breeding? Dang it, they’re the stereotypical space hillbillies, too! Either way, we rushed toward the barricade that was set up down the hallway, turrets slowly turning toward us as we approached a bright red line. “Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot! We are here to talk!” I called out, the Ogryn bursting out from the corner and charging toward us from behind. “They aren’t, though!”

            I had hoped that they had heard us and, hopefully, were willing to help us. We got to the very edge of the line just as the turrets redirected themselves and shot overhead. The bullets rain over our heads, the hail of bullets slamming and tearing into the final few Ogryn. I turned, unleashing a few blasts of plasma toward them to make sure that there were none remaining alive before simply backing up toward the slowly opening gate. Well… That was one tribe taken care of. Not in the way I wanted, but it was taken care of.

            Our group was greeted by a small group of what appeared to be men and women that were draped in a mix of scrap metal and torn, red robes with a cog motif, their faces covered in what appeared to be an iron dust of some form. One of them stepped up, an older man leaning against what appeared to be omnissian axe, a long-hafted axe with cog teeth along the blade and a mix of wires wrapped around it. ‘What do you bring, outsider? Besides death and blood. Speak now before we bring the same to you…’

            I simply lowered my plasma gun and turned it off for the moment. “I want to get your home running again. I need your help, if I am going to do that.” He responded by looking over me and my group for a moment before glancing over toward the shadows. Out of the shadows stepped another group of haggard, partially frost-bitten people. ‘Lucky for you, they stopped by… You’re going to need them, too. Convince them and I will join. We want to see our world move once again, as well. Besides, I imagine the Void Walkers would enjoy having the chance to be of use.’ Well, that should be easy enough… Time to negotiate.