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Filthy Xenos.

Surrounded by the sworn enemies of his chapter, Vaax could not help himself with that sentiment as the battle began. The incoming Ork mob was so close he could see the foaming mouths of the screaming greenskins.

Elsewhere, the other Orks had engaged the villagers. Vaax had done what he could by providing the humans with a strategy that maximises their tactical advantages using ambushes and defensive chokepoints, he had even schemed and successfully took out the aliens’ leader. But like him, the humans were on their own now.

The dreadnought watched with cold fury as more than a dozen frenzied Orks swarmed him on foot and warbike, shouting their barbaric war cries with crude melee weapons held high. Vaax knew these weapons could do little to his heavy plate, so he met the alien mob head on to dispense the Emperor’s fury without reserve.

Vaax ploughed into the tide of oncoming green skins swinging, obliterating a few Orks in the front row outright. Skin, bones, brain, teeth and more splattered all over his frame as the sizzling energy field of power fist smashed into dense organic material with devastating force. The dreadnought’s momentum carried his multi-tonne armoured bulk straight into and through the alien mass, crushing bones and flattening bodies in his wake.

The carnage however did not dissuade the Orks and soon then they were attacking Vaax, smashing their war bikes and weapons against his war plate. The greenskins were superhumanly strong, but not strong enough. The familiar banging sounds assured Vaax his adamantium armour was maintaining its structural integrity.

While these Ork boyz did not possess the means to break Vaax’s sarcophagus, if enough alien mass were to climb onto him, his walker frame might topple, so he worked quickly.

Armed with the experience from countless battlefields, the dreadnought worked with brutal efficiency. Vaax tore into the swarming Orks, power fist swinging, assault cannon and storm bolter blazing. With every attack he crushed more skulls, shattered bones, smashed bikes, severed limbs and punched through whole torsos. Every now and then a dismembered or beheaded Ork would drop dead from the ferocious melee, only to be replaced by another.

Heedless of their losses, the savage aliens persisted in their attempt to overcome the lone space marine walker with their numbers. In the frenzy of it all Vaax managed to grab hold of a sturdily built individual, planted his mechanical feet firmly on the ground, and then began rotating his upper torso like a top. This was a technique viable only to his current dreadnought form, and by using the Ork he grabbed as an extra weighted melee weapon, Vaax employed centrifugal force to smash all the aliens around him.

The simple yet effective technique met the mob head on, and soon a ring of smashed Ork bodies was created around Vaax. The continuous impacts produced sickening wet thuds and the feedback on his arm informed Vaax the frenzied aliens were still not stopping their attacks, so the dreadnought persisted.

Eventually, the aliens relented. When Vaax finally stopped, he found what was once a healthy Ork in his hand reduced to a tattered, bloody form with its head hanging loosely and some of its limbs missing. Despite its horrendous condition the Ork was still alive and was bloodystaring at Vaax, reminding him of a quote from somewhere about the hardy alien species sometimes being “too stupid to die”.

‘You were handy, alien.’ Vaax remarked and dropped the half dead Ork, he then finished the wretched creature with a heavy stomp on its head, adding another pile of crushed alien meat on the already bloodied ground. That contemptuous display done, Vaax started firing his assault cannon again into the now faltering mob, downing a few more aliens. Sensing the Orks’ hesitation, Vaax roared his challenge.

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‘Come! I will crush those who stand before me!’

For a split second, Vaax’s amplified voice managed to drown out all the sounds of fighting around him. From the dwindled mob a lone Ork answered his provocation and charged him. Seeing that only an individual had answered his challenge, Vaax decided to make an example of it. He simply grabbed the hapless Ork and proceeded to smash it repeatedly on the ground. After the alien had become a bloody mess, Vaax launched it three stories high into the air. By this point the dreadnought was looking very much like an immovable object in the centre of the battle.

While the brutish aliens were well known for their love of fighting, it had finally dawned on them that facing an angry, towering metallic cyborg which had killed their boss and dozens of them might not be such a good idea after all. Additionally there were the pesky humans constantly shooting at them from the top of buildings, picking them out one by one. A consensus soon reached the entrenched aliens.

Diz… diz iz not a good fight.

The fighting will of the remaining Orks finally broke when one of the greenskins decided to run away from the dreadnought, and others of its kind agreed with that decision. Vaax fired a few more shots at the retreating Orks and it made them run faster, fleeing on foot and bikes with total disregard for their dead and wounded.

It soon became a rout and despite some pockets of fighting still persisting, victory was secured.

* * *

Covered in dried alien blood and gore, Vaax surveyed the aftermath of the battle standing next to a small mountain of burning dead Orks. The cremation was done to reduce the spores dispersing, a process by which the aliens propagate themselves. Though the humans had obliged his order, the dreadnought suspected the villagers were oblivious to that knowledge. Still, even if their world survives this invasion, their planet was sure to be plagued by feral Orks for many years to come.

The village was ravaged. Curiously a lot of yellowish, ivory-coloured objects were seen on the floor. Vaax zoomed in with his optical lenses for a closer inspection before realising what they were - Ork teeth. The dreadnought knew from his chapter’s records the aliens used these as a form of currency in their crude society and wondered for a moment if these could be employed strategically.

The humans had come out from the fight suffering a number of casualties themselves. Some were shot by the Orks and fell from roof tops. The aliens typically being lousy shooters, there were nonetheless a lot of them shooting, and their guns were powerful enough to punch through light cover. A few fools had also decided to take on the greenskins at their own game in melee and paid the ultimate price.

While Vaax cared not for the human casualties, he acknowledged they did their part and were a great distraction to the mob in the fight. From the villagers’ point of view, the dreadnought was seen as a literal godsend. They had fought the aliens and knew that most, if not all of them, would be dead if not for the “divine help” that had come from the sky. Most of the survivors were still thanking Vaax profusely. A few of the villagers had started cleaning the alien gore Vaax had accumulated using water hoses and industrial powered washers.

While the dead aliens were burning, the fallen humans were gathered for a hasty burial. Soon, the flow of human and alien blood were mixing on the recent battle ground. Vaax noted with grisly fascination how the colour of alien and human blood looked the same under the sun.

With the excess gore removed the dreadnought was revealed to be covered in superficial damages, marks and scratches of all types were left on his warplate by the Orks who had stubbornly attempted to crack his armour with their crude weapons. Basically, the aliens had barely left any real damage on his adamantium armour.

As Vaax was running a self-diagnosis to check on his operational capacity, the chief and a few other important looking villagers approached him. ‘Lord, praise be the Emperor! We can’t thank you enough for saving us. The evacuation will commence and we are leaving for the city soon. Will … will you consider accompanying us?’

‘What is the name of the city?’ Vaax asked and noted the mere act of him speaking made some of the humans around wince.

‘Purgaddon Primus, Lord.’

The dreadnought checked his internal records and found that the city in question was quite close to his originally intended drop site. With no way of contacting his chapter for now, it seemed like he will be tagging along with the humans on this journey.