The lower decks were a warzone.
Smoke choked the corridors, lights flickered like dying stars, and the shrieks of wounded pirates mingled with guttural Ork roars and the constant thumps of boots, clubs, and bodies hitting the floor.
Kael watched from the shattered control room, hands trembling on the console as he yelled into the jury-rigged intercom. "Don't charge down the hallway in a straight line, go around! Use the broken crates as cover! Ambush, you green lunatics!"
"Yeh boss!" Bootlicka's voice crackled over the vox, followed by wet smacks and laughter. "We'z doin' it! We'z ambushin' now!"
On-screen, Kael saw three Orks leap out of an overturned locker like spring-loaded nightmares, landing on a squad of pirates. The pirates screamed, their plasma rifles useless at that range as crude choppas tore through them in seconds.
Kael stared. "Okay... that actually also workes."
The pirates were in disarray. Their lines were broken, their formations scattered. The Orks that forgot the orders were barely organized, dumb as bricks, and constantly distracted were winning. Not because of discipline, or gear, or training.
But because nothing can stop them.
Every time a pirate downed one Ork, three more surged over the corpse. Orks smashed through walls, ripped apart crates for makeshift shields, and stuffed looted grenades into pipes just to see what would happen.
"Holy crap. This might actually work."
Near the botanical section, the WAAAGHHH of orks never stopped. Red Mael Zun stood alone now, cybernetic arms twitching with power. His elite guard were gone—slain, scattered, or left behind in the madness.
He had tried everything. Pulse bursts. Shockwave grenades. Claws that tore through metal. But the Orks just kept coming.
Bleeding from a dozen wounds, covered in green ichor and his own blood, Mael Zun let out a roar that shook the corridor. "I AM THE STORM! NO ONE WILL STOP ME!"
But the Orks didn't stop.
Bootlicka led the charge. His armor was made of mismatched plates welded over time, his massive club wrapped in electric wire that sparked with each swing. "YOU AIN'T DA BOSS! I GOT DA BOSS UP DERE!" he roared, pointing upward with one oversized finger.
Mael Zun surged forward, claw slamming into Bootlicka's gut wounding him and sending him flying but five more Orks were already upon him. One bit his leg. Another jammed a looted blade into his shoulder. A third screamed something unintelligible and headbutted him in the spine.
Mael Zun tried to fight with all his might. He tore two apart. Broke a third's neck. But his steps slowed. His roars cracked into ragged gasps. The Orks were too many.
Kael watched it all unfold from the screen, stunned.
"No way..." he whispered. "They're actually doing it. They're killing him."
He thought this was some Boss level enemy that will demolish him but no. He simply underestimated the orks.
Bootlicka, bloodied but grinning, climbed back to his feet. "NOW BOYZ! WE KRUMP 'IM GUD!"
With a deafening, unified WAAAGH!, a dozen Orks piled onto Red Mael Zun.
"GET 'IS TEEF! I SAW 'EM SHINY!"
"DIS ONE'S SQUISHY"
"DEM SHINY ARM-BITS IS MINE! BACK OFF YA GITZ!"
The pirate lord's final scream was drowned beneath fists, blades, boots, and jagged metal.
And just like that... it was over.
The Orks stood panting over the mangled corpse, chewing on scraps, arguing over who got to loot the boots. Bootlicka ripped off Mael Zun's clawed cyber-arm and waved it overhead. "WE GOT DA SHINY THING! BOSS GONNA BE PROUD!"
Kael, watching it all, sat back slowly in the captain's chair.
"I Dont even know if having them is good or bad... "
[A/N: If some of you feel that kael is ignorant or too passive don't worry. He will change as the story progresses, also he doesn't know a lot about orks hence the ignorance shown sometimes. And I just don't know how to properly write his thoughs that much but I'm starting to get it.]