Hyperspace. Universes thread their way past each other, infinitely long in the three spatial and one temporal dimensions, but finite in the fifth and sixth. They thread their way through 5-space, twisting this way and that, narrowly avoiding each other in places. In the cosmic soup, a single intelligence drifts through the strands of universes, alone on a vast ship of metal, guts, and spacetime. It plucks from the stream of time what it likes from where and when it likes, gathering beings and parcels of land like fireflies in a jar.
With mighty effort, the engines of its ship gather force, and birth a universe. In this fresh-made universe, the lone intelligence births dust. It transfers energy from collapsing universes to this new one, and then it waits. The new universe explodes violently, expanding infinitely into the first four dimensions, weaving its way through the other universes in the fifth and sixth. It waits. Stars form. Nubile galaxies are riddled with high density radiation; novae explode constantly. Still the lone intelligence waits. Galaxies begin to settle down; they grow dusty with age. Finally the lone intelligence searches for a star, and around it, a planet.
To this planet, it crafts an ocean of fresh water, and then it waits. Life teems on the planet. Then, in the middle of the ocean, it finally unloads its stored cargo - islands appear in flashes of bright red light, perfectly hexagonal. Time resumes for these parcels of land with a bang like a thousand thunders.
A patchwork world is born.
“Kill ‘em good, boyz!” The booming voice of Warboss Sharptoof echoed throughout the Ork stronghold, audible even over the sounds of vicious and bloody battle. Just outside the walls of the Black ‘Ead fortress, Orks did battle with the infamous forces of Chaos. Demons of every shape and size were wrecking havoc across the battlefield. The main body of Chaos forces was comprised of warriors clad in advanced battle armor with massive guns. These dark armored warriors were Adeptus Astartes, Space Marines, who had fallen into the grasp of the Dark Gods. In the middle of the battle, a winged monster stood towering over everyone else. The creature was dominating the battlefield, smashing Orks to the side with ease using its demonic battle ax. Sharptoof found this completely unacceptable, that something would beat him so easily.
Sharptoof watched, full of fury, as his best boyz were getting massacred.”Send out da squiggoth!” He bellowed. The gates of the fortress opened up, and a huge Orkoid beast came crashing out towards the middle of the battle. The bloodthirster turned towards this new threat, raising its ax up in preparation for the mighty duel. The squiggoth lowered its head, preparing to use its large horn to impale the Chaos spawn. As the two collided, the bloodthirster grabbed the squiggoth’s horn and barred the battle ax into the creature’s skull. Still the squiggoth charged. The squiggoth lifted its head, taking the bloodthirster into the air, and then slammed the demon down onto a group of Chaos space marines and Ork sluggas locked in combat.
At first, it looked like the bloodthirster wasn’t going to get up. Then the creature drove its disgusting claws into one of the squiggoth’s eyes. The bloodthirster ripped his ax free of the squiggoth’s skull, and dove forward to attack once more. As the great titans clashed, the battle continued around them in full swing. Ork shootas were busy filling their enemies with bullets from afar, while the Ork sluggas used their large knives to slice up the enemy. Still, the Chaos forces were impossibly powerful. An Ork walker manned by Grots stomped forward into the fray. It was met quickly by rockets from the Chaos anti-armor marines, and the massive walker’s head exploded and killed the Grots inside. The battle waged on for ages, bodies piling up from both sides. The two titans had killed each other long ago, their corpses now attached to each other, looking as if they were still fighting, even in death. The Ork numbers were still impossible to count, but the Chaos army was being reinforced constantly by a portal to the Warp. So Sharptoof decided he’d do something about it.
The big, green warboss of the Black ‘Eads leaped off the wall of his stronghold and stepped out onto the battlefield, flanked by his kommandos. Sharptoof went charging off down the middle of the battle, his kommandos using their shootahs to clear a path through anyone stupid enough to get in the warboss’s way. Eventually, the company made it to the opposite side of the field, where the massive green portal floated above the ground. In front of the portal, stood an eight foot tall Chaos sorcerer wielding a glowing force sword. Sharptoof’s kommandos spread out around the two leaders and created a barrier, so that no one would interfere in the duel.”Come on ‘den!” Sharptoof shouted.”Lemme show you why I’m da biggest, and dah best! WAAAAAAAAGH!” The greenskin charged, chain ax held high, not waiting for his opponent to even speak. The sorcerer fired a handful of bolts of dark energy at the charging warboss, who didn’t even flinch when they exploded across his scarred body. The warboss swung his chain ax down at the sorcerer, who blocked the blow with his force sword with ease. Sharptoof used one of his stump like legs to land a kick right on the sorcerer’s chest, sending the man careening backwards. The warboss then used his free hand to start firing his shoota at the sorcerer. The bullets pinged harmlessly off the sorcerer’s armor, and the sorcerer charged the greenskin, sending a blast of energy at the green monster. Warboss Sharptoof was sent flying onto his back by the blast. Before the warboss could stand, the sorcerer was right on top of him, driving the force sword down at Sharptoof’s head.
Then the sorcerer pushed the blade down into Sharptoof’s eye. The blade pierced the eye and almost hit the brain, but right before contact was made Sharptoof grabbed the flaming sword of the sorcerer.”You monsters just don’t die, do you?” The sorcerer sneered, shoving the sword down again. Sharptoof did not let up however, pushing the sword back and throwing it away from the two.”WAAAAAAGH!” Was all Sharptoof said as grabbed the sorcerer with his good hand, dropping the armor clad magician onto the ground. Sharptoof then rolled on top of him, beating the sorcerer with his useless right hand that had been burnt to a crisp by the flaming sword.”I’m still dah best..” The warboss snarled, pulling the sorcerer’s head off his neck, taking the spine with it.
Sharptoof held the head up in the air, and threw his head back.”WAAAGH!” He gave the Ork’s warcry once more, and it echoed back to him from the other Orks around the field. Missing an eye and a hand, the Warboss stomped away from the body and returned to battle, using his shoota. The rest of the fight was more of a clean up. With the sorcerer gone, the demons were returned from where they had come, and there were no more reinforcements. As Sharptoof was putting a bullet in between the eyes of the last Chaos warrior, the sky grew bright red above everyone. There was a flash, and then a massive bang a moment later. Sharptoof was being escorted by a group of painboyz towards the center mountain, when an Ork mek shouted: “Where dah ‘ell are we?!” The warboss snatched the Mek’s looking device, and the warboss was equally as confused. Where there once was an endless expanse of jungle, he saw a massive ocean.”Bloody ‘ell..?”
To the northwest, another hex appeared in the ocean, but its denizens didn't seem to notice that anything had changed. The hex was a piece of the planet SR-388, from the universe of Metroid. On this hex were approximately 15 metroids in various evolutionary stages, with the majority of them being infants and mature stage 1 metroids. After a few moments, a couple of the membranous base form adults wandered out into the open ocean and chirped almost cutely before bouncing in the air. They found an entire world to explore, with lots of life for them to feed on. Within the ocean, there were fish on which they could feed. One metroid dropped into the water and chased a fish. The fish was very fast, but no match for the metroid's speed. It was caught and taken out of the water, the metroid momentarily floundering as it drained itself of water and exchanged it for air, the substance necessary for it to fly. When it streaked out of the water, the fish flailed and shriveled before being dropped back into the water and sinking. The metroids bobbed in the air and began to hunt these fish, delighting in their abundance and in the taste of the life force of the native life. But the fish quickly disappeared, and a few metroids were already in cocoons and evolving for aquatic life. A single metroid streaked from a cave and headed for the horizon as it explored the world for better sources of food.
After an unknown passage of time, as metroids did not feel the passing of time as other species did, it eventually found a jungle with a mountain in its center. Along the way, it fed on any fish it could catch, but it was delighted to find this new island. It felt many bodies pulsing with life energy, but it wasn't hungry at that moment. It drifted into the jungle and found the Ork camp by the mountain, and found itself curious about these creatures. It drifted into the camp and ended up bumping into one of the massive Orks. This creature was much larger than what it was used to, easily the same size as the metroid itself. It drifted back and chirped in a curious manner, wondering just what sort of creature it was looking at. Despite its appearance, it showed signs of a childish intellect, that of curiosity and wanting to learn. Such curiosity was a precursor to its evolutionary process.
With mighty effort, the engines of its ship gather force, and birth a universe. In this fresh-made universe, the lone intelligence births dust. It transfers energy from collapsing universes to this new one, and then it waits. The new universe explodes violently, expanding infinitely into the first four dimensions, weaving its way through the other universes in the fifth and sixth. It waits. Stars form. Nubile galaxies are riddled with high density radiation; novae explode constantly. Still the lone intelligence waits. Galaxies begin to settle down; they grow dusty with age. Finally the lone intelligence searches for a star, and around it, a planet.
To this planet, it crafts an ocean of fresh water, and then it waits. Life teems on the planet. Then, in the middle of the ocean, it finally unloads its stored cargo - islands appear in flashes of bright red light, perfectly hexagonal. Time resumes for these parcels of land with a bang like a thousand thunders.
A patchwork world is born.
“Kill ‘em good, boyz!” The booming voice of Warboss Sharptoof echoed throughout the Ork stronghold, audible even over the sounds of vicious and bloody battle. Just outside the walls of the Black ‘Ead fortress, Orks did battle with the infamous forces of Chaos. Demons of every shape and size were wrecking havoc across the battlefield. The main body of Chaos forces was comprised of warriors clad in advanced battle armor with massive guns. These dark armored warriors were Adeptus Astartes, Space Marines, who had fallen into the grasp of the Dark Gods. In the middle of the battle, a winged monster stood towering over everyone else. The creature was dominating the battlefield, smashing Orks to the side with ease using its demonic battle ax. Sharptoof found this completely unacceptable, that something would beat him so easily.
Sharptoof watched, full of fury, as his best boyz were getting massacred.”Send out da squiggoth!” He bellowed. The gates of the fortress opened up, and a huge Orkoid beast came crashing out towards the middle of the battle. The bloodthirster turned towards this new threat, raising its ax up in preparation for the mighty duel. The squiggoth lowered its head, preparing to use its large horn to impale the Chaos spawn. As the two collided, the bloodthirster grabbed the squiggoth’s horn and barred the battle ax into the creature’s skull. Still the squiggoth charged. The squiggoth lifted its head, taking the bloodthirster into the air, and then slammed the demon down onto a group of Chaos space marines and Ork sluggas locked in combat.
At first, it looked like the bloodthirster wasn’t going to get up. Then the creature drove its disgusting claws into one of the squiggoth’s eyes. The bloodthirster ripped his ax free of the squiggoth’s skull, and dove forward to attack once more. As the great titans clashed, the battle continued around them in full swing. Ork shootas were busy filling their enemies with bullets from afar, while the Ork sluggas used their large knives to slice up the enemy. Still, the Chaos forces were impossibly powerful. An Ork walker manned by Grots stomped forward into the fray. It was met quickly by rockets from the Chaos anti-armor marines, and the massive walker’s head exploded and killed the Grots inside. The battle waged on for ages, bodies piling up from both sides. The two titans had killed each other long ago, their corpses now attached to each other, looking as if they were still fighting, even in death. The Ork numbers were still impossible to count, but the Chaos army was being reinforced constantly by a portal to the Warp. So Sharptoof decided he’d do something about it.
The big, green warboss of the Black ‘Eads leaped off the wall of his stronghold and stepped out onto the battlefield, flanked by his kommandos. Sharptoof went charging off down the middle of the battle, his kommandos using their shootahs to clear a path through anyone stupid enough to get in the warboss’s way. Eventually, the company made it to the opposite side of the field, where the massive green portal floated above the ground. In front of the portal, stood an eight foot tall Chaos sorcerer wielding a glowing force sword. Sharptoof’s kommandos spread out around the two leaders and created a barrier, so that no one would interfere in the duel.”Come on ‘den!” Sharptoof shouted.”Lemme show you why I’m da biggest, and dah best! WAAAAAAAAGH!” The greenskin charged, chain ax held high, not waiting for his opponent to even speak. The sorcerer fired a handful of bolts of dark energy at the charging warboss, who didn’t even flinch when they exploded across his scarred body. The warboss swung his chain ax down at the sorcerer, who blocked the blow with his force sword with ease. Sharptoof used one of his stump like legs to land a kick right on the sorcerer’s chest, sending the man careening backwards. The warboss then used his free hand to start firing his shoota at the sorcerer. The bullets pinged harmlessly off the sorcerer’s armor, and the sorcerer charged the greenskin, sending a blast of energy at the green monster. Warboss Sharptoof was sent flying onto his back by the blast. Before the warboss could stand, the sorcerer was right on top of him, driving the force sword down at Sharptoof’s head.
Then the sorcerer pushed the blade down into Sharptoof’s eye. The blade pierced the eye and almost hit the brain, but right before contact was made Sharptoof grabbed the flaming sword of the sorcerer.”You monsters just don’t die, do you?” The sorcerer sneered, shoving the sword down again. Sharptoof did not let up however, pushing the sword back and throwing it away from the two.”WAAAAAAGH!” Was all Sharptoof said as grabbed the sorcerer with his good hand, dropping the armor clad magician onto the ground. Sharptoof then rolled on top of him, beating the sorcerer with his useless right hand that had been burnt to a crisp by the flaming sword.”I’m still dah best..” The warboss snarled, pulling the sorcerer’s head off his neck, taking the spine with it.
Sharptoof held the head up in the air, and threw his head back.”WAAAGH!” He gave the Ork’s warcry once more, and it echoed back to him from the other Orks around the field. Missing an eye and a hand, the Warboss stomped away from the body and returned to battle, using his shoota. The rest of the fight was more of a clean up. With the sorcerer gone, the demons were returned from where they had come, and there were no more reinforcements. As Sharptoof was putting a bullet in between the eyes of the last Chaos warrior, the sky grew bright red above everyone. There was a flash, and then a massive bang a moment later. Sharptoof was being escorted by a group of painboyz towards the center mountain, when an Ork mek shouted: “Where dah ‘ell are we?!” The warboss snatched the Mek’s looking device, and the warboss was equally as confused. Where there once was an endless expanse of jungle, he saw a massive ocean.”Bloody ‘ell..?”
1 month before teleportation to the patchwork
Borgon Apolla tapped one of his claws on an arm rest of his command throne glaring at out the view screen of his capital ship as the battled unfolded around him. The fleets of humans (UE) and automatons battle the Craver warships they ambushed the warlord silently fumed that he was caught off guard like this. He releasing a low growled “engage emergence jump, have any” he order the bridge drones. They quick scurried offed fearing Borgon rage, he soon felt his ship accelerating. But it didn’t go unnoticed by a UE destroyer it directed a salvo of lasers into the fleeing ships several hitting the engine as it made the jump away from the battle. As Borgon was calming down the ships engine exploded the shock of which knocked the small group out of there jump and send them barreling towards a nearby arid world. The Craver warship impacted the planet causing massive damage to the ships and there crews.
Present
They had wasted no time in rebuilding their ships into a new hive spires with the remains of ship with Borgon’s flag ship into the main spire. Borgon was on the former observation room looking out over the spires he could spot workers climbing on them each building them up. A drone burst into the room “my lord we detected an energy build up around us!” the warlord was about to ask then the sky went red. It lasted for a moment before a flash and it faded, Borgon felt a migraine rip through his head. “Report,” he shouted he notice the drone in a fetal position the warlord groan and stepped over the drone’s body. He march through the hall with drones and workers were in different states of shock with the warrior breeds yelling at drones trying to rally them. Borgon made his way into his throne room where he saw his champion Havdar the Skull taker “report” he order sitting on his throne. Havdar looked at some of the read out on the screens “It appears we been teleported to another world. Where it is I don’t known,” he said with a shrugged. The craver warlord thought over the information for a minute before speaking up “It doesn’t matter where we are as for this planet will allow me to rebuild my strength. But first things first I want to get as many drones and workers possible snapped out of whatever trance there in.” he order looking over this new world that he will rule.
Borgon Apolla tapped one of his claws on an arm rest of his command throne glaring at out the view screen of his capital ship as the battled unfolded around him. The fleets of humans (UE) and automatons battle the Craver warships they ambushed the warlord silently fumed that he was caught off guard like this. He releasing a low growled “engage emergence jump, have any” he order the bridge drones. They quick scurried offed fearing Borgon rage, he soon felt his ship accelerating. But it didn’t go unnoticed by a UE destroyer it directed a salvo of lasers into the fleeing ships several hitting the engine as it made the jump away from the battle. As Borgon was calming down the ships engine exploded the shock of which knocked the small group out of there jump and send them barreling towards a nearby arid world. The Craver warship impacted the planet causing massive damage to the ships and there crews.
Present
They had wasted no time in rebuilding their ships into a new hive spires with the remains of ship with Borgon’s flag ship into the main spire. Borgon was on the former observation room looking out over the spires he could spot workers climbing on them each building them up. A drone burst into the room “my lord we detected an energy build up around us!” the warlord was about to ask then the sky went red. It lasted for a moment before a flash and it faded, Borgon felt a migraine rip through his head. “Report,” he shouted he notice the drone in a fetal position the warlord groan and stepped over the drone’s body. He march through the hall with drones and workers were in different states of shock with the warrior breeds yelling at drones trying to rally them. Borgon made his way into his throne room where he saw his champion Havdar the Skull taker “report” he order sitting on his throne. Havdar looked at some of the read out on the screens “It appears we been teleported to another world. Where it is I don’t known,” he said with a shrugged. The craver warlord thought over the information for a minute before speaking up “It doesn’t matter where we are as for this planet will allow me to rebuild my strength. But first things first I want to get as many drones and workers possible snapped out of whatever trance there in.” he order looking over this new world that he will rule.
When the sky turned red, all of Eagle's Nest One noticed. It of course could not be attributed to any atmospheric condition, as it is hard to change sky color when there is no sky in the first place. Welcome to the Moon - and now we're leaving it again. When the red sky receded, gone was the emptiness of space. The Black Dogs were now sheltered under an atmosphere, and there was even water in the distance. Up in the Command Tower, things were hectic (as if the rest of the base wasn't). "Sitrep!" barked General Collins. "What on Earth just happened?" His subordinates were frantically at their posts working the sensor arrays - nobody could figure out where they were or how they got there. Radioing other outposts brought only static, and the wireframe displays shown on units' radar screens indicated very unorthodox terrain all around them.
The Black Dogs, used to confusing situations like this one, quickly went to work. Razor scout crafts idle on the base got to work fanning out to search for other notable land features. Soon it was known that most of the base was surrounded by water, with one island closeby, more islands distant and part of the Moon base connected to a larger desert land mass. Scavengers that had been sitting at the base began searching for bio-metal and finding none. This world, it seemed, had never been hit by the Cthonian bio-metal shower of 1952. Determining a way to claim bio-metal on a scrap-less world was immediately placed on top priority for the scientists on the base, and all further unit production had to be halted temporarily until this could be solved. The most curious thing about this world - all the "pieces" seemed to be perfect hexagons. There wasn't a soul in the base not utterly confused by what had just occurred, but they had learned over years of fighting the CCA to expect the unexpected...and this was definitely unexpected.
The Black Dogs, used to confusing situations like this one, quickly went to work. Razor scout crafts idle on the base got to work fanning out to search for other notable land features. Soon it was known that most of the base was surrounded by water, with one island closeby, more islands distant and part of the Moon base connected to a larger desert land mass. Scavengers that had been sitting at the base began searching for bio-metal and finding none. This world, it seemed, had never been hit by the Cthonian bio-metal shower of 1952. Determining a way to claim bio-metal on a scrap-less world was immediately placed on top priority for the scientists on the base, and all further unit production had to be halted temporarily until this could be solved. The most curious thing about this world - all the "pieces" seemed to be perfect hexagons. There wasn't a soul in the base not utterly confused by what had just occurred, but they had learned over years of fighting the CCA to expect the unexpected...and this was definitely unexpected.
The lone intelligence admired its handiwork. Not many sentients were involved in this harvest. That suited its purposes for the moment. And if it disagreed with its previous choices, it could always go back and reset the world, and start again. That felt, somehow, like cheating. It would disrupt the experiment. It vowed not to, after all. The lone intelligence felt glee and anticipation. A long time had passed since it had managed to cobble together an experiment. And this one proved no less interesting to it.
In the center of the formation, a towering green crystal sat. It was made of hundreds of hexagonal towers; some were thin as a knife, others were skyscraper-sized. The arid dirt around the formation was cracked and caked, dryer than bones in a desert. On a closer level of inspection, the lone intelligence could see the incredibly slight green haze forming one millimeter from the crystal's surface. Veins of iron, silver, platinum, and copper glinted deep within the formation like frozen smoke.
To the south, a water tower defended a desolate desert town. Nothing moved in the town; all the humans were gone. A general store sat with food still artificially preserved and coke, still cold, in a chest-height refrigerator. The lone intelligence had seen fit to pump in electric power through nano-wormholes connected to the power lines.
To the west, a gaping hole in the ground glowed brightly - deep toward the center of this planet, a magma flare had built and died in a few minutes' time. Hot air shimmered upward above the hole, gradually disappating into the air.
North of the hole, amidst great desert and dunes, a pit ends with a ring of tendrils that wave lazily in the wind. The whole scene appears to be waiting for something, or someone.
Further to the south, beyond displaced moon-scape, a jungle island hums with life. Concrete structures squat, ugly and kitschy, an invader in the mists. The hum of a generator can be heard in the background, providing a steady bass to strange animal roars and growls.
In the center of the formation, a towering green crystal sat. It was made of hundreds of hexagonal towers; some were thin as a knife, others were skyscraper-sized. The arid dirt around the formation was cracked and caked, dryer than bones in a desert. On a closer level of inspection, the lone intelligence could see the incredibly slight green haze forming one millimeter from the crystal's surface. Veins of iron, silver, platinum, and copper glinted deep within the formation like frozen smoke.
To the south, a water tower defended a desolate desert town. Nothing moved in the town; all the humans were gone. A general store sat with food still artificially preserved and coke, still cold, in a chest-height refrigerator. The lone intelligence had seen fit to pump in electric power through nano-wormholes connected to the power lines.
To the west, a gaping hole in the ground glowed brightly - deep toward the center of this planet, a magma flare had built and died in a few minutes' time. Hot air shimmered upward above the hole, gradually disappating into the air.
North of the hole, amidst great desert and dunes, a pit ends with a ring of tendrils that wave lazily in the wind. The whole scene appears to be waiting for something, or someone.
Further to the south, beyond displaced moon-scape, a jungle island hums with life. Concrete structures squat, ugly and kitschy, an invader in the mists. The hum of a generator can be heard in the background, providing a steady bass to strange animal roars and growls.
To the northwest, another hex appeared in the ocean, but its denizens didn't seem to notice that anything had changed. The hex was a piece of the planet SR-388, from the universe of Metroid. On this hex were approximately 15 metroids in various evolutionary stages, with the majority of them being infants and mature stage 1 metroids. After a few moments, a couple of the membranous base form adults wandered out into the open ocean and chirped almost cutely before bouncing in the air. They found an entire world to explore, with lots of life for them to feed on. Within the ocean, there were fish on which they could feed. One metroid dropped into the water and chased a fish. The fish was very fast, but no match for the metroid's speed. It was caught and taken out of the water, the metroid momentarily floundering as it drained itself of water and exchanged it for air, the substance necessary for it to fly. When it streaked out of the water, the fish flailed and shriveled before being dropped back into the water and sinking. The metroids bobbed in the air and began to hunt these fish, delighting in their abundance and in the taste of the life force of the native life. But the fish quickly disappeared, and a few metroids were already in cocoons and evolving for aquatic life. A single metroid streaked from a cave and headed for the horizon as it explored the world for better sources of food.
After an unknown passage of time, as metroids did not feel the passing of time as other species did, it eventually found a jungle with a mountain in its center. Along the way, it fed on any fish it could catch, but it was delighted to find this new island. It felt many bodies pulsing with life energy, but it wasn't hungry at that moment. It drifted into the jungle and found the Ork camp by the mountain, and found itself curious about these creatures. It drifted into the camp and ended up bumping into one of the massive Orks. This creature was much larger than what it was used to, easily the same size as the metroid itself. It drifted back and chirped in a curious manner, wondering just what sort of creature it was looking at. Despite its appearance, it showed signs of a childish intellect, that of curiosity and wanting to learn. Such curiosity was a precursor to its evolutionary process.
The entire Ork settlement was in disarray. The Ork boyz lacked the intelligence to grasp where they were or why they were there, but they all felt the lack of WAAAGH energy. The boyz started wandering around aimlessly around the town surrounding the massive mountain, being severed from the psychic energy of the rest of the Ork race, they had temporarily lost their Orkiness. The Oddboyz (Orks who were born to be smarter than the average boy, these are usually pain boyz, weird boyz, and mek boyz.) were the first to snap out of the trance, and began to snap the boyz out of their trances and send them to work. It took some time, but eventually the Orks were beginning to go back to their usual jobs. The Gretchin left their hiding places and raced across the battlefield, and began to scavenge. They took anything and everything that could be used. Armor and weapons would be dragged off to the Mek huts to be re-purposed into Orkish weaponry. Daemon and Human bodies were taken to the cooking huts, to be used as food. Any Ork bodies found would be dragged into the depths of the massive mountain, to give off their spores in the growing chambers.
While all this went on, Warboss Sharptoof was having his wounds treated. He had been gravely injured during the battle, and required cybernetic implants if he were to continue being the Warboss. Within one of the many caves within the mountain, Sharptoof was laying on his back on a metal table. He was surrounded by meks, weirdboyz, and painboyz who were all necessary if this surgery was to be a success. Usually the weirdboyz would only be around for support, but due to the recent cut off from the WAAAGH field, every ounce of warp energy was needed. The surgery took quite some time to complete. During the entire process, Sharptoof was fully awake, and wasn't on any form of anesthetics. Pain relievers were considered too unorky for use, even by the Blood Axes. When the surgery was finished, Sharptoof looked to be some kind of hybrid of Ork and machine. The pain boyz had removed Sharptoof's burned arm, and the mek boyz had replaced it with a power klaw. The mek boyz had also replaced the Warboss's eye with a cybernetic one. Sharptoof had also requested that the Mek boyz replace some of his more vital areas of skin with metal plating.
Meanwhile, in the jungle right outside the walls of the base where battle had been held not but a few hours ago, a lone Ork boy on a scouting patrol had run into some strange new life form. Quite literally, in fact. The boy jerked in surprise when he felt something large bump into it, and the Ork whipped around and snarled. The strange creature that had ran into the Ork was like nothing he had ever seen. The boy sniffed the air, inching closer to the metroid, keeping its shoota pointed at the creature constantly. The Ork would usually attempt to subdue or more than likely kill an intruder such as this floating thing, but the severed connection to the WAAAGH! had affected his instincts. The Ork's tiny mind finally worked out that he should lead it to a nob or oddboy, who would know what to do with it. So the Ork began to step away from the metroid towards the base, saying the least threatening things it could in the Orkish tongue (Which were still rather threatening, if the metroid could understand the Ork.)
While all this went on, Warboss Sharptoof was having his wounds treated. He had been gravely injured during the battle, and required cybernetic implants if he were to continue being the Warboss. Within one of the many caves within the mountain, Sharptoof was laying on his back on a metal table. He was surrounded by meks, weirdboyz, and painboyz who were all necessary if this surgery was to be a success. Usually the weirdboyz would only be around for support, but due to the recent cut off from the WAAAGH field, every ounce of warp energy was needed. The surgery took quite some time to complete. During the entire process, Sharptoof was fully awake, and wasn't on any form of anesthetics. Pain relievers were considered too unorky for use, even by the Blood Axes. When the surgery was finished, Sharptoof looked to be some kind of hybrid of Ork and machine. The pain boyz had removed Sharptoof's burned arm, and the mek boyz had replaced it with a power klaw. The mek boyz had also replaced the Warboss's eye with a cybernetic one. Sharptoof had also requested that the Mek boyz replace some of his more vital areas of skin with metal plating.
Meanwhile, in the jungle right outside the walls of the base where battle had been held not but a few hours ago, a lone Ork boy on a scouting patrol had run into some strange new life form. Quite literally, in fact. The boy jerked in surprise when he felt something large bump into it, and the Ork whipped around and snarled. The strange creature that had ran into the Ork was like nothing he had ever seen. The boy sniffed the air, inching closer to the metroid, keeping its shoota pointed at the creature constantly. The Ork would usually attempt to subdue or more than likely kill an intruder such as this floating thing, but the severed connection to the WAAAGH! had affected his instincts. The Ork's tiny mind finally worked out that he should lead it to a nob or oddboy, who would know what to do with it. So the Ork began to step away from the metroid towards the base, saying the least threatening things it could in the Orkish tongue (Which were still rather threatening, if the metroid could understand the Ork.)
The metroid continued chirping, bobbing rather cutely. Not that the Orks had any conception of "cute", but despite the fact that it was the ultimate killing machine, it had a very strange sort of cuteness to it. The metroid readily followed the scout into the camp. The grass on the ground swayed underneath the metroid in a rhythmic pattern, showing the Ork just how it floated along, if he were smart enough to notice. It really had no idea what the boy was saying, but it also couldn't even hear him due to lacking ears or any sort of aural senses. As they entered the camp, though, that's when hunger began to gnaw at the metroid, and it shook and chirped to reflect that. Then the metroid bounced rapidly and chirped with new energy before tackling the Ork and latching onto his chest, breaking through his armor with the crunch of breaking armor. The metal was churned between its pincers and shoved out of the way, allowing the metroid to latch onto the Ork's flesh and pierce it with its inner pincer. Intense pain like no other the Ork would ever have known would shoot through him, a pain far, far worse than what Sharptoof had felt during his surgery. The Ork shriveled and his green skin blackened, hardening until it was just about indestructible. The massive prey sated the metroid far more than it actually needed, which allowed it to move on to its next stage of life. As other Orks fired on the metroid to no effect, it drifted to the ground and latched itself there, and a sickly green sheen appeared around it. Then the creature was still, but its nuclei could still be seen pulsing with energy, showing it was still alive.
It was all of fifteen minutes before the entire Moon hex had been scoured by its inhabitants. There was zero bio-metal, or "scrap", anywhere. It was clear that patrols would have to branch out to other hexes if they hoped to gain any bio-metal. It could certainly have been worse, as the Black Dogs were already decently equipped. They were a small squad within the NSDF, though, barely filling up the old Eagle's Nest One outpost. However combat proficient they were, their numbers were small. As the last corners of the hex were explored, Grizzly One, piloting the only Tank currently in the outpost and the Black Dogs' Commander, sent out the order for all units to return to base. From high above the planet it would have looked like ants returning to their colony. Once everyone was there, a course of action was determined. Working with only ten offensive units (and only Razors at that), six would stay at base and patrol/defend while four + Grizzly One would scout the desert to the northeast. Turrets were redeployed at the base entrances as the Gun Towers were not yet online, and the Scavengers were told to stay at the base. Soon the task force left the safety of Eagle's Nest One and thrustered towards the desert.
At 25 meters per second the group reached the southwestern edge of the desert in minutes. Slowing to 10 m/s, the group scanned their pulsing radar systems for bio-metal, terrain, objects, or anything other than flat desert. It was not promising some white squares appeared, representing unknown stationary objects. Soon a small town came into view. The spectacle of five hovertanks floating into a desolate ghost town in a desert would be quite a sight normally, but in this patchwork world it wouldn't get a second look. As the task force examined the town, they discovered that, in the midst of everything abandoned, there was a refrigerator still emanating power. No source of electricity could be found, but the fact that the electricity was there caused a radio back to base.
*BEEP* "Eagle's Nest One, this is Grizzly One. We found a ghost town in the desert and it still has electricity somehow. There's also a water tower that still appears to be full of water, for what it's worth. Anything that can help us?" *BEEP*
*BEEP* "Grizzly One, this is General Collins. I don't think -- "
The General's voice cut off, but came on again moments later.
"I'm just been informed by the scientists here that it may be possible to use the electricity and water to fuel a bio-metal generator. We have a single Tug at the base that is en route now to retrieve the electricity source and water tower. Maintain position until they arrive. Collins out." *BEEP*
Grizzly one ordered his wingmen to establish a perimeter around the outpost. Soon, Razor Two got on the comm.
*BEEP* "We have bio-metal generators? Since when?" *BEEP*
Then Razor Four: "I heard that it was an experimental thing being developed for moons with low scrap supply before we got 'relocated'."
The speculation continued until the Tug soon arrived. It made short work of its task, uprooting the water tower and collecting the refrigator, both held in the clutches of the tug's hold, and heading back to base. Nobody questioned why the refrigerator was still generating its own power even when it arrived at Eagle's Nest One, and it and the water tower were dropped off to be examined by the scientists in the outpost. The base had been, predictably, uneventful since the search party had left, and now it was at its (current) full capacity. If a bio-metal generator was successfully built, it could blossom into its real full potential. For now though, the hovertank pilots retired to their Barracks...those who weren't on watch, anyway.
At 25 meters per second the group reached the southwestern edge of the desert in minutes. Slowing to 10 m/s, the group scanned their pulsing radar systems for bio-metal, terrain, objects, or anything other than flat desert. It was not promising some white squares appeared, representing unknown stationary objects. Soon a small town came into view. The spectacle of five hovertanks floating into a desolate ghost town in a desert would be quite a sight normally, but in this patchwork world it wouldn't get a second look. As the task force examined the town, they discovered that, in the midst of everything abandoned, there was a refrigerator still emanating power. No source of electricity could be found, but the fact that the electricity was there caused a radio back to base.
*BEEP* "Eagle's Nest One, this is Grizzly One. We found a ghost town in the desert and it still has electricity somehow. There's also a water tower that still appears to be full of water, for what it's worth. Anything that can help us?" *BEEP*
*BEEP* "Grizzly One, this is General Collins. I don't think -- "
The General's voice cut off, but came on again moments later.
"I'm just been informed by the scientists here that it may be possible to use the electricity and water to fuel a bio-metal generator. We have a single Tug at the base that is en route now to retrieve the electricity source and water tower. Maintain position until they arrive. Collins out." *BEEP*
Grizzly one ordered his wingmen to establish a perimeter around the outpost. Soon, Razor Two got on the comm.
*BEEP* "We have bio-metal generators? Since when?" *BEEP*
Then Razor Four: "I heard that it was an experimental thing being developed for moons with low scrap supply before we got 'relocated'."
The speculation continued until the Tug soon arrived. It made short work of its task, uprooting the water tower and collecting the refrigator, both held in the clutches of the tug's hold, and heading back to base. Nobody questioned why the refrigerator was still generating its own power even when it arrived at Eagle's Nest One, and it and the water tower were dropped off to be examined by the scientists in the outpost. The base had been, predictably, uneventful since the search party had left, and now it was at its (current) full capacity. If a bio-metal generator was successfully built, it could blossom into its real full potential. For now though, the hovertank pilots retired to their Barracks...those who weren't on watch, anyway.
Sub-surface, Perfection Valley, Nevada
Hibernation. Hundreds of years of quiet hibernation, waiting to run out of food, waiting to grow. Always waiting to grow. The latest long cycle was nearing its end; dormancy would quiet, and the rapid-paced life cycle would come with the Great Warmth. Digs Vigorously was old - so old that she could remember six long cycles - but she still hadn't gotten her shakes yet. This new brood would be born feral, and only the strong would survive. Digs Vigorously had seen six broods grow past her, get the shakes, and hatch upper void runners. She herself always joined them in their hunts, feasting on what vibrations she could find near the upper void, always glad that the broodlings were born dumb. They would chase the vibrations past the side void if that's where the vibrations ran. Some time later, the Great Warmth did come again, and the desperate feeding frenzy began again.
They broodlings learned quickly, though, and soon enough Digs Vigorously began to lose her edge. Her skin was numb in places; she couldn't detect everything she once could. She'd managed to feast while the brood was dumb; she was bloated, resting in a comfortable layer of clay, wondering when her shakes would begin. Then vibrations swarmed around her. The clay was jumping, hardly deadining the vibrations at all. And they just got more intense. Digs Vigorously found herself in immense pain from the vibrations. She could just feel one of the broodlings circling crazily, blindly trying to find the source of the great vibrations in order to eat it. So great were the vibrations that Digs Vigorously lost herself for a while. When she came back to the ground, something felt wrong, far above and around her. The upper void had changed somehow. As had the rest of the ground.
Digs Vigorously cautiously sent a subsonic test wave through the earth. The side void had expanded, and the four walls of stone were gone. Something mushy was beyond the side void now; something like void yet still present, somehow. That was good. More room meant more hunting grounds, which meant less competition. Vibrations-rhythmic-scraping-fast-moving south reached her from the south, and somewhere far above.
Food! The broodlings sensed it, too, and one of them - the largest one - was already making its way toward the vibrations. Digs Vigorously didn't survive this long by being curious, so she stayed behind. A few broodlings stayed nearby, too, either being too weak, too lazy, or too stupid to chase after the vibrations.
A large graboid launched itself after the tug. The displacement flash had paralyzed it for long enough that it was far behind the tug, but as it approached the moon base, it shifted targets to the nearest thing making noise that was touching the ground. It seemed rather unfazed by the foreign terrain (or perhaps it was just too stupid to notice), and kept tunneling straight through it. A small furrow was visible in the lunar dust as the graboid hurtled toward its target - an off-duty soldier enjoying the new-found oxygen near the edge of Eagle's Nest One.
The graboid stopped short of the man and poked its three snake-like tongues from the lunar dirt. they blindly groped around, searching for the source of the vibrations. It found them, grabbed the soldiers leg, and pulled him toward its subterranean mouth. The soldier died screaming, dragged underground, caught by complete surprise.
Hibernation. Hundreds of years of quiet hibernation, waiting to run out of food, waiting to grow. Always waiting to grow. The latest long cycle was nearing its end; dormancy would quiet, and the rapid-paced life cycle would come with the Great Warmth. Digs Vigorously was old - so old that she could remember six long cycles - but she still hadn't gotten her shakes yet. This new brood would be born feral, and only the strong would survive. Digs Vigorously had seen six broods grow past her, get the shakes, and hatch upper void runners. She herself always joined them in their hunts, feasting on what vibrations she could find near the upper void, always glad that the broodlings were born dumb. They would chase the vibrations past the side void if that's where the vibrations ran. Some time later, the Great Warmth did come again, and the desperate feeding frenzy began again.
They broodlings learned quickly, though, and soon enough Digs Vigorously began to lose her edge. Her skin was numb in places; she couldn't detect everything she once could. She'd managed to feast while the brood was dumb; she was bloated, resting in a comfortable layer of clay, wondering when her shakes would begin. Then vibrations swarmed around her. The clay was jumping, hardly deadining the vibrations at all. And they just got more intense. Digs Vigorously found herself in immense pain from the vibrations. She could just feel one of the broodlings circling crazily, blindly trying to find the source of the great vibrations in order to eat it. So great were the vibrations that Digs Vigorously lost herself for a while. When she came back to the ground, something felt wrong, far above and around her. The upper void had changed somehow. As had the rest of the ground.
Digs Vigorously cautiously sent a subsonic test wave through the earth. The side void had expanded, and the four walls of stone were gone. Something mushy was beyond the side void now; something like void yet still present, somehow. That was good. More room meant more hunting grounds, which meant less competition. Vibrations-rhythmic-scraping-fast-moving south reached her from the south, and somewhere far above.
Food! The broodlings sensed it, too, and one of them - the largest one - was already making its way toward the vibrations. Digs Vigorously didn't survive this long by being curious, so she stayed behind. A few broodlings stayed nearby, too, either being too weak, too lazy, or too stupid to chase after the vibrations.
A large graboid launched itself after the tug. The displacement flash had paralyzed it for long enough that it was far behind the tug, but as it approached the moon base, it shifted targets to the nearest thing making noise that was touching the ground. It seemed rather unfazed by the foreign terrain (or perhaps it was just too stupid to notice), and kept tunneling straight through it. A small furrow was visible in the lunar dust as the graboid hurtled toward its target - an off-duty soldier enjoying the new-found oxygen near the edge of Eagle's Nest One.
The graboid stopped short of the man and poked its three snake-like tongues from the lunar dirt. they blindly groped around, searching for the source of the vibrations. It found them, grabbed the soldiers leg, and pulled him toward its subterranean mouth. The soldier died screaming, dragged underground, caught by complete surprise.
The Ork drawing the strange life form into the camp had caught the attention of many of the other Orks. Regular boyz along with Oddboyz were all gathering around to see what this strange creature was, and to find out why the thing hadn't been smashed into a pile of blood and gore yet. The crowd had grown rather large, and the Orks were already restless having the thing around, and it had only entered the camp moments ago. When the creature suddenly attacked the boy, the rest of the Orks were thrown into pandemonium. Bullets, rockets, and a variety of melee weapons flew through the air at the metroid as it tore into the boy's chest. When their fire seemed to do nothing to the creature, the Oddboyz ordered the Orks to hold their fire and pull back, something that no other klan would ever have done. This new threat had the Orkish leadership in a frenzy. There were very, very few things Orks couldn't kill with enough dakka, and those things usually killed all the Orks present before they had time to complain about it.
Sharptoof, having been informed of the attack, decided to come see this thing for himself. The warboss had already recovered from his wounds, and was thoroughly pissed off."You got ya arses handed to ya by a JELLYFISH?!" Sharptoof yelled, smashing an Ork's face in with his power klaw, sending the boy flying a good few feet. The Ork stood up, shaking the blow off as if he'd only been slapped."Whichevah of you maggots can kill dis thing, I'll make ya one of me nobs! I'll get ya yer own bloody gargant! Just kill it!" Sharptoof yelled as he stomped up to the egg sack and kicked it. The warboss then stomped off to brood in his mountain fortress.
The rest of the Orks got to work trying to come up with ways to kill it. The rank and file boyz were going through the Orkish arsenal, using all their weapons on the thing in an attempt to find a weakness. The Weirdboyz stood by and studied the egg, trying to figure out a way to use the warp against it. The Mek boyz, on the other hand, were having a field day. They began to build new and creative guns to try and be the one to kill the metroid.
Meanwhile, Sharptoof began to gather his wits. The warboss called together his kommando bodyguards, all thirty of them that had survived the battle."Alright boyz, letz get ta work. We'z in a strange world, ya see? The Weirdboyz 'ink the Warp did it. I don't rightly care why the bloody 'ell we're 'ere, just that we're 'ere and we're gonna smash whoevah sent us 'ere. Da Big Mek be tellin' me that we'z got three Fighta Bommas, so youz is gonna split up into three mobz. One of ya goes North, anotha west, and the last 'ne goes east. If ya spot anyfing interestin', land n' take a look. Get back 'ere in two days, or I'll smash ya 'eads. Got it? Get movin', ya grots!"
The Ork Kommandos set off towards the Mek garage that held the three Fighta Bommas, as well as the rest of the Orks vehicles. The Meks off loaded the bombs from the Fighta Bommas so that they could be used as air transports, and the Kommandos loaded inside them. The three planes were pulled by nobz with chains out into an open era in the base (As far away from the metroid as possible). The three planes then used their VTOL engines to fly vertically up, and then they spread out and flew off in the three prescribed directions.
(Author's notes: Each kommando is armed with a shoota (More or less a machine gun), and stikkbombs (Grenades). There are three heavy weapons kommandos in each mob, however, that also carry mines and rokkit launchas. Each mob also has a single nob to lead them, who is armed with a kustom shoota (A shotgun, more or less.) The Fighta-Bommas each have twin-linked big shootas mounted under the cockpit (Two .50 calibers), as well as a single big shoota on each side of the plane. The side guns have a 160 degree arc of fire, while the twin linked gun on the bottom-front can fire in 360.)
Sharptoof, having been informed of the attack, decided to come see this thing for himself. The warboss had already recovered from his wounds, and was thoroughly pissed off."You got ya arses handed to ya by a JELLYFISH?!" Sharptoof yelled, smashing an Ork's face in with his power klaw, sending the boy flying a good few feet. The Ork stood up, shaking the blow off as if he'd only been slapped."Whichevah of you maggots can kill dis thing, I'll make ya one of me nobs! I'll get ya yer own bloody gargant! Just kill it!" Sharptoof yelled as he stomped up to the egg sack and kicked it. The warboss then stomped off to brood in his mountain fortress.
The rest of the Orks got to work trying to come up with ways to kill it. The rank and file boyz were going through the Orkish arsenal, using all their weapons on the thing in an attempt to find a weakness. The Weirdboyz stood by and studied the egg, trying to figure out a way to use the warp against it. The Mek boyz, on the other hand, were having a field day. They began to build new and creative guns to try and be the one to kill the metroid.
Meanwhile, Sharptoof began to gather his wits. The warboss called together his kommando bodyguards, all thirty of them that had survived the battle."Alright boyz, letz get ta work. We'z in a strange world, ya see? The Weirdboyz 'ink the Warp did it. I don't rightly care why the bloody 'ell we're 'ere, just that we're 'ere and we're gonna smash whoevah sent us 'ere. Da Big Mek be tellin' me that we'z got three Fighta Bommas, so youz is gonna split up into three mobz. One of ya goes North, anotha west, and the last 'ne goes east. If ya spot anyfing interestin', land n' take a look. Get back 'ere in two days, or I'll smash ya 'eads. Got it? Get movin', ya grots!"
The Ork Kommandos set off towards the Mek garage that held the three Fighta Bommas, as well as the rest of the Orks vehicles. The Meks off loaded the bombs from the Fighta Bommas so that they could be used as air transports, and the Kommandos loaded inside them. The three planes were pulled by nobz with chains out into an open era in the base (As far away from the metroid as possible). The three planes then used their VTOL engines to fly vertically up, and then they spread out and flew off in the three prescribed directions.
(Author's notes: Each kommando is armed with a shoota (More or less a machine gun), and stikkbombs (Grenades). There are three heavy weapons kommandos in each mob, however, that also carry mines and rokkit launchas. Each mob also has a single nob to lead them, who is armed with a kustom shoota (A shotgun, more or less.) The Fighta-Bommas each have twin-linked big shootas mounted under the cockpit (Two .50 calibers), as well as a single big shoota on each side of the plane. The side guns have a 160 degree arc of fire, while the twin linked gun on the bottom-front can fire in 360.)
Borgon stepped through the halls of his tower to inspect the work that has started back up since they were brought there. As he walked down the halls with his champion with him any drone or worker that was milling around quickly found something to do avoid Borgon's wrath. The Craver warlord looked over to his champion, "what is our status Havdar?" the Craver looked at the salvage data-slate "we had recover about 78% of our forces, I organized a scouting party to investigate the near by area my lord." Havadar replied handing the larger Craver the slate Borgon looked over it carefully "very well tell me if they find anything," he order walking into his throne room.
The warrior looked over the area his group was give to scout the area around the craver hive. He moved among the drones occasionally hissing at them to get them back on track. Other than that he was board, the warrior slung the large rifle over his shoulder and continue to walk in the direction that Havadar told him to go.
The warrior looked over the area his group was give to scout the area around the craver hive. He moved among the drones occasionally hissing at them to get them back on track. Other than that he was board, the warrior slung the large rifle over his shoulder and continue to walk in the direction that Havadar told him to go.
