Ever since he'd copped that head wound a cycle ago, Zammel Smit had been having trouble keeping up.
He got why the Hi-Viz Jackers were at these mine workings at Buried Saints - it was one of the last unclaimed bits of turf in Sector H8. He got why Akilles was guarding the claimstick they'd planted - to say loud and clear that this was Orlock turf. He got why Ijax and new guy Tzig were off patrolling the surrounding tunnels - other gangs were gonna come gunning for the territory.
What he didn't get was why Vints had ordered the rest of the gang to action stations - sure, another gang had turned up but they were wearing hi-viz orange, just like the Jackers....
Things clicked for Zam when Dwice was hammered out cold by the other gang's point guy - a brute of a fighter with three arms.
'Ah, ratcrap!' said Zam. 'They're muties! That freaky strain with the extra arms, like those folk we fought at Saint Piotr's!'
'Ya don't say...' said Onzo Macbacta, who was standing next to Zam. 'Reckon Vints was right - these guys are bad news... and reckon I see their claimstick at the top of the minehead. C'mon, Zammy.'
The two Jackers were halfway up a walkway to the main minehead structure that dominated the domespace. With Akilles guarding the claimstick on one of the minehead's outer platforms, Vints down below with the juves - well, with new guy Steez now Dwice had been clobbered - and Ijax and Tzig nowhere to be seen, it looked like it fell to Zam and Onzo to wreck the interlopers' claim and show them who owned these workings.
They darted up the walkway to the main level. Down below to their right, Steez had copped a bullet and was down bleeding. Vints was dodging between the support struts, firing off bolt shells at whichever enemies he was glimpsing through the gloom.
Zam and Onzo paused at the top, taking cover behind a scrap barricade. A wise precaution as it turned out - a frag blast rattled the other side of their shield.
'Sumpdammit, they got us locked down here,' muttered Onzo. 'You ready to dart out?'
Zam was sharpening up. 'Yeah, man. On three?'
On the third count they nipped out and forward, ducking behind a railing. As they ran, Zam caught a glimpse of Akilles's stubber flashing in the corner of his eye. At the end of the walkway ahead, which lead to the minehead core, a mutie grunted and flailed, losing his balance and tumbling to the domefloor.
'Spire bless ya, Akilles,' grinned Onzo, glancing back and across to Lebow's position. 'Oh, frag it...'
'What?' said Zam, following his gangmate's gaze. At domefloor level, more muties were creeping out of the shadows, looking to encircle Akilles - and the Jacker's claimstick. 'You reckon we should head back and help?'
Onzo sucked his teeth. 'Nah, man - we gotta take their claim out, no matter what. Vints and the boys oughtta be able to handle it. We gotta head on.'
Zam nodded. 'Okay, get on then. I'll cover you.'
Zammel watched as Onzo darted ahead and took a couple of autopistol shots at the muties menacing the Jacker leaders down below. The fire pinned a couple of foes, and Onzo was almost at the main stack when a lanky mutie scrambled up onto the platform and lunged at him, brandishing a wicked-looking knife. Who knew how many of them there were, lurking out in the darkness?
While Onzo grappled with the mutie, Zam crept forward, checking the load on his combat shotgun. From over beyond the mine stack, he heard the pop and burst of grenade launchers, two shots in rapid succession - presumably, Tzig had turned up and was exchanging fire with a similarly-armed opponent.
Zam was intending to race forward and assist Onzo, but the latter was holding his own against the mutie. Nearing the railing of the walkway, Zam glanced down and saw a couple of muties readying to make towards Vints, Akilles and the claim. It was the big three-armed brute and a scrawny, juve type. Clicking a shredder round ready, Zam leaned over the railing and fired. The muties were engulfed in a cloud of razor pellets, dropping them both - but not taking them out.
Zam turned back to the path ahead just in time to see the mutie get his knife through Onzo's mesh armour. Onzo stumbled forward - even as he was losing consciousness, he swung his wrench with such force that it knocked the muties out cold. As he faded out, Onzo hissed to Zam, 'Keep going, jack - get to the minehead!'
Zam gritted his teeth and cast another glance behind him. Akilles was now penned in by muties - two three-armed thugs and another wrapped in a long duster and an air of authority. The Jacker champion swung his stubber to bear on the latter and let rip, sending the boss mutie tumbling to the domefloor. Zam's heart leapt, but in a flash the others were on Akilles, taking him out of the fight and trashing the Jackers' claim.
That was it then: only honour to fight for. And the task fell to Zam. He turned back toward the minehead and started running, but halted when he saw the big brute who'd clobbered Dwice ascending a walkway on the other side. There was no way he'd be able to handle a charge from that bastard. He clicked a couple of solid slugs into his shotgun and fired - no hits, the tangled metal of the minehead superstructure got in the way.
The big bastard was almost on Zam's level, even as his mutie gangmates seemed to be thinning out, disappearing into the tunnels - if Zam could take him out, he'd have a chance.
He clicked the shotgun back onto shredder and counted the seconds - just as the brute made it onto the platform, Zam let rip. The mutie was riddled with shards and tumbled back down the steps. Zam's path was clear.
But then he heard Jackers hollering from around the dome - there'd been too much attrition, they were starting to bottle, just like the muties. But Zam still had a chance.
He sprinted along the walkway to the main block of the minehead and leaped onto a ladder, scrambling up to the top level. Here he was, face to face with the mutie gang's icon: a hideous effigy of a four-armed, lash-tongued, clawed horror. Trashing it wouldn't just be a blow in the name of the Hi-Viz Jackers, it'd be a service that was all that was good and holy under the Emperor's watch.
Zam raised a boot to give the effigy a kick. But then there was a flash of orange euther side of him. He thought for split-second it was two of the Jackers, come to his aid. But not all the muties had bottled. Zam was outnumbered, and quickly knocked out.
Later, back in their hive-slum hideout, the Jackers would reflect bitterly on how they'd not claimed the mine workings. But then, it seemed the scrap had sharpened Zam's wits back to where they'd been before that head wound, so perhaps the venture wasn't a complete loss...