Waylaid at Wycherley

Professor Quatermass looked over his notes, he had been looking for the shrine of St Ymar for years and now he thought he had finally found it. The location of the shrine had been lost when an ork invasion ripped through the sector four hundred years before devastating many once flourishing planets.  

After, years of searching through the archives on Dubris and reading long forgotten histories of the saints Quatermass had finally discovered the whereabouts of the shrine.  The shrine was on Wycherley, a planet that was once a centre of civilisation in the sector that had boasted places of learning, and prayer, but during the ork invasion it had become a focal point of the war.  The planet had undergone orbital bombardment, and virus bombing, but even these extreme measures could not dislodge all the orks, so the imperial forces had placed a blockade around the planet.  After, four hundred years of isolation the orks had regressed to a feral state, but even now the imperial forces still maintained the blockade around the planet.  

Professor Quatermass would have to launch an unsanctioned expedition to the planet to recover what he could from the shrine of St Ymar.

The ork warboss squinted his eyes as he looked up at the vapour trail of the landing craft streak through the sky.  He walked around his camp rousing his troops with physical violence and curses.  “Oi yuz get up! We`z eading out to stomp some eads.  Dat doodad woz eading to the ruins.” 

The ork warboss was the first to spot the humans and he bellowed to his men to get forward, but his voice was drowned out by the engines of the landing craft and two of them wandered off distracted.

The loud cries of the warboss alerted Quatermass and his mercenary bodyguard to the presence of the orks.  The mercenaries moved forward and engaged the orks at range.  Most of the shots went astray but Loxley, the leader of the mercenaries, hit one of the orks with a gas cartridge from his shotgun.  The ork clutched at its throat in a vain attempt to save its own life.

The orks rushed towards the small group of humans in front of them their love of war blanking out any thoughts for their own safety. The orks laughed as they saw two of their number being cut down by the combined fire of Loxley, Much, and Herne.

The roar of the orks as they charged made professor Quatermass jump and he realised that he was a little too close to the action for his own good.  In combat, Loxley and Much matched the ferocity of the orks with their hard earnt prowess.

As the last two orks charged into the fray Herne the hunter opened fire with his las-gun. Shot after shot hit the orks as they ran in, but the laser made no impact on the orks` tough hides. 

In the whirlwind of melee Herne`s sword flashed out and slit the throat of the ork that was engaged with him, Loxley emptied his stub gun into the ork warboss wounding the giant ork.  But Much the miller`s son was not as lucky as he parried the attack from one ork the second ork felled him with a powerful swing from his great axe.

Knowing better than to disturb their boss when he was involved in combat the orks engaged Herne.  The veteran warrior`s years of experience were not enough to stop the orks overpowering him. 

The ork warboss grinned to himself as he saw his boys take down another one of these humans. He was almost sorry that this entertainment would soon be over.  The moment of self-reflection gave Loxley enough time to reload and empty his stub gun into the warboss.  The ork staggered back as the bullets blew three holes in his stomach.  The ork warboss looked at his wounds and decided that now was not the time to die and scarpered. 

Seeing as the area was secure for the moment Loxley went to see what he could do for Much and Herne while Quatermass went up to the remains of the shrine of St Ymar.  What secrets were still hidden in the ruins?