Chapter 11

  The screaming stopped. Not all at once, but slowly, like a big engine grinding to a halt. The blue boys were running. Properly running. It was a beautiful sight. They moved like wounded animals, dragging their mates and firing their little pop-guns behind them, a slow, stumbling retreat back towards where their fancy flying boxes were supposed to be.

  My Boyz wanted to chase them, to finish the krumpin’. I could feel their eagerness thrumming through the Waaagh!, a hungry green energy that wanted more blood. But I held them back.

  “Dat’s enough for now, Boyz,” I grunted into the vox. “Let ‘em run. Have a sit-down.”

  A few grumbles answered me, but they obeyed. The main fight was over. I watched the last of the blue boys disappear behind a ridge of scrap, and a slow, wide grin spread across my face. It was the grin of a git who knows he’s just pulled off the best, most kunnin’ plan in the history of plans.

  A crackle on my private vox channel announced the good news. The voice was fast, high-pitched, and barely paused for breath.

  “Boss! Boss, it’s Yapper! We did it! We did it just like you said! We jumped ‘em with the rokkits, right in their shiny blue backsides! So many panels and pipes, Boss, a Mek’s dream! We cut our way in, lost a few Boyz to their shooty-turrets, but Gorok got the door open and then, Waaagh! We was in! Dey was proper surprised, all shouty in their nice clean corridors! We krumped the bridge crew and now Snagrat is sittin’ in the big chair pushin’ all the flashy buttons! One of their ships is ours! Proper Orky now! We’re takin’ it for a spin on the other side of the planet, just like you said! Waaagh!”

  I let out a booming laugh that made Zolk jump. “Good work, Yapper! Paint it red and find some more dakka for it!”

  I clicked the vox off. Dull, who was busy trying to pull a bent Ultramarine helmet off one of Zolk’s lower teeth, looked up at me. My Squigosaur had finally managed to snack on the big Meganob that Fabian had krumped. A well-deserved treat.

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  “You’re lettin’ ‘em get away, Boss?” Dull squeaked, his little brow furrowed. “They’ll just get in their flying ships and come back for another go, won’t they?”

  I chuckled, reaching down to pat the Snotling’s head, being careful not to get too close to Zolk’s working jaws.

  “Nah, Dull. They won’t be doin’ that,” I said, my voice full of cheerful malice. “See, while all my best Boyz like Gitsmasha and Fuminus were havin’ a nice, loud scrap down here, and while Yapper’s lot were makin’ a ruckus up in the sky, I sent my quietest Boyz somewhere else.”

  I pointed a big green finger towards the distant landing zone. “I sent Ziggar and his Kommandos to have a little look at the ‘Umies’ flying boxes. And Ziggar is very, very good at makin’ things go boom.”

  Dull’s eyes went wide with understanding. No flying boxes. No escape.

  The blue boys weren’t retreating. They were trapped. Marooned on my world, with a Warboss who had out-smarted them at every turn. The real fun was just beginning.

  “Right!” I bellowed to the Boyz around me. “Lunch time!”

  A great cheer went up. The battlefield turned into a massive, open-air feast. Gretchin scurried out, dragging squig-roasts and barrels of fungus beer. Boyz sat down on the corpses of their enemies, laughing and boasting about their best kills. The air filled with the sounds of celebration.

  It wasn’t all fun and games, though. The Painboyz, led by ol’ Sawbones himself, were already at work, their grots assistants dragging wounded Orks to their tents. The sound of revving bone-saws and loud screaming meant Boyz were getting patched up for the next fight. Nearby, the Mekboyz were eyeing up the survivors who’d lost limbs, taking measurements and arguing about whether a buzz-saw or a power klaw would be a better replacement. We didn’t leave our Boyz to die. We made ‘em better. More killy.

  I took a huge bite out of a roasted squig leg, leaning back in my saddle. Zolk was happily crunching on Meganob armour. Dull was polishing my boots. My Boyz were happy, fed, and victorious. And a whole company of the Emperor’s best blue boys were stuck on my planet, with no way out.

  I grinned. The chase was over. Now for the hunt.