HATTIE'S HARLOTS - Chapter 6

Landing in a remote area of an Agri World, the plan was to pick up some supplies and get out before the local militia figured out they were there. Alex had gone with Nozrot and Gothgot to see if there were any Grox they could "borrow".  Quietly moving among a series of farm buildings, Nozrot grabbed Alex’s arm and pointed at some farm machinery parked in front of one of the larger sheds.

"Youz see dat?" asked Nozrot, pointing at the group of machines.

"It’s a tractor, what do you need a tractor for?" asked Alex.

"I don needz a tractor. Look at da woik, dat’s a ork mech boyz repair job." said Nozrot as he headed for the shed. Looking in the window, they could see an ork working on a piece of equipment.

"Let me go in first," said Alex, "you guy’s keep an eye open, out here." Opening the door, he saw 2 orks working on different pieces of equipment.

"Be wid youz in jusa minut." came a voice from the back of the shop. The 2 other orks didn’t look up from what they were doing. "Wha kenz Iz do fur youz?" asked a very rotund ork, with one eye, as he walked out of the back of the shop area. It was at this point that Alex noticed the huge manacles between the orks legs. A quick look revealed that the other 2 orks were similarly shackled.

"What do you do here?" asked Alex.

"Iz Badtoof Biggutz, da ‘ead mech boy, demz iz ma azzizant’s." he answered, pointing at the other 2 orks. "Youz gotz somfing Iz kenz fixz?"

"No," answered Alex.

"If youz ain’t gotz notin ta fixz, what youz wantz den?" asked Biggutz, looking very confused.

"What to get out of here?" asked Alex, "I know somebody who can help you."

"Yeah?" smirked Badtoof, "Youz gotz a Nob in youz pocket taa hep youz?"

"No," smiled Alex, as he opened the door, “I‘ve got one outside.”

As soon as Nozrot cleared the door frame, the 3 manacled orks almost trampled Alex to get to him.  After a fast exchange, in ork, Gothgot checked out the door and shouted that the area was clear.  Before Alex could stop him, Nozrot pointed the muzzle of his Kustom Shoota at the chains between Badtoofs legs and pulled the trigger.  Alex wasn’t sure which was louder, the firing of the weapon or the explosion when the slug impacted the chain. Quickly Nozrot shot out the manacles of the other 2.  By this time, lights were coming on in the other buildings of the farm complex and a siren started wailing.

"We gotta get outta here, fast." shouted Alex.

"Ok." said Nozrot, as he grabbed Alex and throw him over his shoulder. "Youz don run fas ‘nuf."

Unknown to Alex and the Orks, there was a small detachment of Imperial Guard spending the night at the farm complex.  As he was bouncing along over Nozrot’s shoulder, Alex counted 40 IG troops in the spotlights from the farm complex.

As they got back to the Maria, las gun fire started to come from the bushes not 300 yards away.

"What the hell is going on?" shouted  Hattie as the small group pounded up the boarding ramp.

"Imperial Guard!  About 30 to 35 troops, 4 Ogryn and a Commissar." Alex answered as Nozrot dropped him to the deck.

"Pah, IG Boyz nuffin’ to worry bout." spat Nozrot and opened fire with his kustom shoota.

At this point, more of the Harlot’s came charging out of the cargo bay and started firing at the IG troops.

"Hattie?" said the always calm voice of the Chief Engineer, over the intercom, "We’ve got bigger problems, the lift engines are not responding."

"Youz gotz en-ginz trouble?  Showz me da way." said Biggutz.


Nog Stone’ead shouldered his Ripper Gun to fire at the humans and Orks that were shooting at him.  He had to shot at them because they were traitors.  The Commissar had said that they were traitors, so that was good enough for him.  As the Bone’ead, he had told the other Ogryn as well, who had all agreed.  With the trigger almost pulled, he noticed a familiar face in the group of humans across the field from him.  Thinking as hard as he could, he slowly recalled who the face was.

"Hey, der is Sergeant Major Langsdorf!" he yelled, to be heard over the noise of weapons fire.

Hearing that name, the IG Veteran Sergeant stopped shooting.

"Langsdorf?  Where?" he shouted, visibly shaken.

"Right der, next to dat big Ork." answered Stone’ead, pointing.

The word spread like wild fire through the IG troops, Sergeant Major Langsdorf was across the field, shooting at them.  The panic was almost palpable.  Langsdorf?  Impossible, he was dead, wasn’t he?  How could he be over there, with those pirates?  Terror was beginning to take root.

So happy was he, to see the only man in the IG to ever be kind to him, Nog Stone’ead stood up and began to wave his hands.

"What are you doing, you great oaf?"  shouted the Commissar, "Shoot them!"

Before Stone’ead could answer, Nurg Dead’ead said, "No, dat’s Sergeant Major Langsdorf."

"Mutinous scum!" screamed the Commissar, as he shot Dead’ead in the stomach.  The explosion of the bolt tore a huge hole in the Ogryn’s midriff.  He looked down at his stomach spilling out onto the ground and, with the last of his strength, drove both fists down on the Commissar’s head.  The impact crushed the Commissar’s skull, killing him instantly.

The panic was now complete, the IG troops bolted.  With a great sigh, Stone’ead looked down at the body of his friend Dead’ead, and started to run to catch up with the others when a thought slowly formed in his head and he stopped.

"Did you see that?" asked Harlowe, in amazement watching the IG troops melt into the woods.

"Yes", was all Langsdorf said, as he waved back to the huge Ogryn, who was waving at him.

After they had cleared the planet and jumped into the warp, Hattie went to Hold 2, to find out about the new orks.

"Wez wuz capturd, bout five yerz ‘go, by dat farmer. ‘E sayz dat wez fixz ‘ez fings or ‘ez gonna givz uz taa da Guard Boyz en day canz shootz uz." said Badtoof. "Soz whaz Iz spoz taa do? Wez fixz ‘ez stuf."

"Alright, you two brought them onboard, you two can take care of them." said Hattie, looking at Alex and Nozrot.
"Me?" said Alex, with his best, innocent puppy dog look, "How did I bring them onboard? Nozrot had me over his shoulder."

"Iz din’t bring dem, day follow’d me." said Nozrot, trying to look innocent, which was impossible for the ork to do. He was learning fast from his association with humans.

"Shut up, will you two?" Hattie said as she headed out of the hold. Badtoof and his two assistants endeared themselves to the engineering people quickly after they fixed several pieces of machinery that no one had been able to get to work. Badtoof would just smile and say "Easy fing".