Folks round Hacked
Knee could see the effects of the guild war in the very fabric of the
sector itself. Routine maintenance rites were neglected, resulting in
power lines cutting out, promethium pipes rupturing, and ancient
support structures collapsing. Most attributed this to the guilder
feud, but some whispered that it might have more to do with the
ascendance of the Hellhounds and the Harbingers of the Undivided, and
the dark influence of the Wrong Gods they were rumoured to worship.
It was as if the badzones themselves were stirring and coming alive,
encroaching on the fragile habs and workshops of H8 with every
passing shift.
Gang fights in those
darkening days took place wherever and whenever paths crossed, and so
the Hi-Viz Jackers, Krass Dynasty and Righteous Brotherhood of the
Crimson Carrion found themselves facing off in a dangerously unstable
tunnel level, at the centre of which lay a massive explosive which
had sat dormant for untold centuries. Now, though, the shifting
structure had disturbed its dreamless sleep and it was ticking
ominously...
With Akilles and Edz
recovering from the Jackers last battle, Macks Zmit was the de facto
leader of the Jackers this shift. All too aware of the threat posed
by the unexploded bomb – not to mention the rival gangs – Macks
had the Orlocks hang back, dodging the sludge jellies that flopped
hungrily from grills and hatchways all around.
It was the zealous
Cawdors who made the first move, sending one of their gangers into
the central crossways occupied by by the bomb. He remote-operated a
blast door to trigger a violent decompression which dragged half the
Krass Dynasty into the open. The mutant cult wasted no time and
poured gunfire into the hapless Carrionite. He was blasted into the
Jackers' line of fire, and Macks hammered him down with a frag
grenade. The temptation of such an easy scrag proved too much for
Jacker juve Ferg Lazerus, who darted forward and brained the Cawdor
out of action. But the Underhive punishes the rash – Ferg found
himself on the receiving end of Krass's chainglaive, and was likewise
taken out.
The depressurisation
had disturbed the ventworks feeding into the tunnels, and a powerful
gale lashed the corridors for several clicks, making it hard for all
to shoot straight.
The Crimson Carrion
brought a bounty hunter with them – the cryptically-named MCV2.
Though he was ostensibly on board to capture the notorious Krass, he
sprinted into the Jacker-held quarter and unleashed a web-pistol
torrent into the heart of the assembled Orlocks. Though Macks was
only superficially spattered, Kaleb Dyablo and Kurtiz Kohl were
thoroughly webbed, pinned and vulnerable as they strained against
their chem-woven bonds. Still, dim juve Noot Necrofago was on hand to
help them break free. Murgen Hezsz attempted a brace of point-blank
stubberhots at the bounty hunter, but in the confusion missed.
MCV2 was
disturbingly quick – in a heartbeat, he'd darted back down the
corridor and webbed Krass and his nearest cronies, pinning them
dangerously near the ticking bomb. Murgen had reason to forgive his
poor shooting a moment earlier – here was a chance to scrag the
cursed Krass himself. He ran against the howling winds to the floored
mutie leader and pistol-whipped him into submission. But Murgen's
moment of underhanded triumph was short-lived – Dynasty cultist
Hildegard took aim with her shotgun and blasted Hezsz out of the
fight.
Beyond the
bomb-threatened crossways, on the far side of the fightzone to the
Jackers, some of the Krass Dynasty attempted an outflanking move on
the Crimson Carrion, but were cowed by plasmafire. Meanwhile, the
Cawdors were attepmpting an outflanking of their own on the Jackers –
but this was stymied by the quick reaction of Ralve Skinzer and Gavv
Naxon – the former wounded one of the approaching Carrionites with
his autogun; the latter finished the job with a brutal scragging that
sent the nearby heavy bolter-carrying Cawdor fleeing in fright.
And then the bomb
went off. The corridors shook; plasteel supports wailed as they
warped and twisted; rockcrete dust wafted through the zone. Every
fighter was floored by the seismic shock, and most of those in close
proximity to the bomb were wounded by flying shrapnel.
The explosion
triggered a static storm – the walls danced with tendrils of
unchecked electricity, and a charge by one of the Dynasty cultists on
MCV2 was interrupted by a mild shock flash as the fighters made
contact. Nevertheless, the bounty hunter, already wounded by the
massive detonation, was taken out of the fight.
The static storm
passed, but there was worse to come: a partial dome collapse, which
pinned fighters who'd only just recovered from the bomb detonation.
Sections of floor and wall gave way, and from adjoining levels, thick
tendrils of downhive vegetation nudged through, disgorging obscuring
clouds of fluorescent spores. The upheaval tripped the power supply,
and the tunnels were plunged into darkness as the lumens cut out and
the blast doors slammed shut. Kaleb Dyablo, only just free of the web
snare, barely avoided losing his head as a slab portal closed right
by him.
In the darkness, the
Jackers did what they could. Ralve and Gavv blundered about in the
gloom, trying to find the one remaining Carrionite outflanker.
Several stray shots later, they pinned him down and tag-teamed an
assault, with Ralve landing the scragging blow. Young Noot, cut off
from his gangmates, amazed himself as he appeared to be heaving a
blast door open single-handed, only to discover that Macks and Kaleb
had been pitching in on the other side.
The lumens flickered
back on, and the Jackers prepared to go on the offensive, but Kurtiz
Kohl blundered forward like a green juve and got blasted by Dagmar
Krass's mining laser – a humiliating mistake that would surely
haunt the Orlock. But under cover of frag blasts courtesy of Macks,
Noot scrambled forward and took a close-range stubbershot at Dagmar,
badly injuring the mutie.
Visibility in the
dome was dropping fast, with an indeterminate brow gas wafting in
from the vents that were still working. Between this and the airborne
spores, it was nigh-impossible to get a clean shot.
The battle of
attrition had taken its toll on the Crimson Carrion and Krass Dynasty
and, unwilling to risk the necks of any more of their key
gangmembers, they fled the tunnels, leaving the Jackers in control of
the wrecked zone.
Macks Zmit was able
to lead the boys back to Nu-Bedlam with their heads held high. They
hadn't claimed any turf worth defending, but seeing off the Dynasty
and Carrionites would go some small way to boosting their reputation.
And besides, they'd bagged a captive – the Cawdor known as Tetrix
had been left behind in the confusion.
The Hacked Knee
Guild War was all but over – but maybe there were a few more drops
of blood yet to be spilled...