01-01-2015, 03:57 AM
Pooling our seats together and making a few more orders of drinks with little umbrellas in them, I was introduced to the gang. The Ork (he insisted on the spelling) was Kaptain Choprot, a large and in-charge brute of a humanoid who was, and I quote from him, "Da boss of dis sad krew of grots". His attire was as pirate as they got, a tricore hat and gold plated teeth with a long red coats not out of place on Captain Hook. But it stood out against the bionics littering his body, including the one that took up his right arm up to his shoulder that ended in a particularly nasty set of mechanical claws, and a massive gun that was almost was a big as he was in the seat next to him. His first mate Perry was much closer to me: Human, military type, and just a pistol at his side. Well, two out of three. He was practically emotionless compared to his rambunctious green superior. The third was a human sized person covered entirely in various clothing of mostly dark colors, long sleeve pants and shirt with a wrapped cloth and goggles covering the face. The only bit of flesh you could see was the hands, and they keep their arms crossed the whole time made it hard to spot them. They did not speak, more inclined to keep a watch of the bar, and when I asked the other two they told me they called the mysterious person "Patches". I introduced myself as "Doomguy", and while Perry gave me a raised eyebrow for the nickname the other two seemed to take it in stride.
"So, ya want to take Crescent Lagoon by yourself?" The nautical ork asked with his big toothy grin "Ya must think you'ze a real tough nob if ya can stomp what's taken three other krews to fail" his beady red eyes glaces over me, and I could tell that he was trying to size me up. Judging by the smirk he was poorly trying to hide, he either believed I could do it or just found my bravado was amusing. The other two looked less sure, but they followed after the captain's lead. "But I bet you'ze new 'ere, and dat's where I come in. Ya need a map and a boat, but nothing comes free" He leans in, waiting to hear out my side of the offer.
"You're smarter than you look" I joked to the captain, which got a great guffaw from the big lug. "Clearly there's something there that you and your crew-cut friend here wants, otherwise you wouldn't be talking about it. I go in by myself, with you nearby for extraction. I wreck shop, take whatever isn't nailed down, we split the loot, and I'll be off with my share" It was a boast, I admit, but it was one I could back up, What could possibly be so dangerous in a naval base that rivaled the demons I've faced before
"That's very generous, for someone willing to put themselves at risk for very little" Perry narrowed his eyes at his me, his suspicion almost palpable. Couldn't blame him. I'd be pretty suspicious if I was in his place too. Crazy guy carrying around an armory on his back and saying he'll happily crash a military base for cash and glory? I'd wonder if that guy was off his rocker, or in it for something else. Not that I'm crazy. Nope. Don't even think It.
"Well, your captain is right" I turned down his suspicion, trying to make it seem I was on the ork's side. "I am new here, and I'm looking just to get my hand on anything that's worth something. I lost a lot of stuff when I got pulled into this shithole by that Omni asshole" The table fell silent at that, and the three sea dogs stared me down with the same surprise. I just sat there dumbfounded, not one hundred percent sure what I said to get that reaction. Perry leaned towards his boss, whispering something that I couldn't quite make out, but the ork thumped the man in the chest with his bionic arm very quickly, causing the first mate to double over.
"I know 'e's a prime, you git! I 'eard 'im meself!" Choprot yelled at Perry, revealing the subject of the attempted whispered conversation and a bit angry. I was left more amused. This is the second time I've heard that term today, and I was of course curious at what it meant.
"What's a prime, exactly? From what I've heard, they are just people that cause problems" I asked, and while captain Choprot harassed a waitress for another drink, Perry managed to unfurl himself from his damaged stomach to explained.
"You're not far off" Perry said, the annoyance in his voice relaying some experience in the area. I was given a not-so-friendly explanation about "primes", interspersed with barbed comments that were likely aimed at primes and me by proxy. But his middle school level burns were weak sause in the multiversal competition of insults, the most greenhorn space marine could have swore him to pastey whiteness by comparison.
"They sound like a bunch of dick" I explained
"You're one of those dicks"
"I never said I wasn't a dick" I retorted, and got another set of loud laughs from the green ork.
"Ha, this grot's funny!" the captain elbowed his first mate, who had a frown down to his chin. "When can ya start?!"
Once pleasantries and dinner was done, I was lead away from the town to the docks. Where ships of all kind stood port to starboard. Graceful wooden ships with masts being lowered next to ironclad battleships with cannons gleaming and control decks jutting up against the sky. Sailors, just as varied as the people I saw in town, rushing about with supplies, cargo, and equipment as the night started to settle in. It made me think of the USSMC's spaceports that dotted the planets that could support them. Well, trade the sterile steel catwalks with creaking wooden planks and the bleak, hostile nothingness of space with the slightly less hostile ocean. Captain Choprot's personal ride, was off on the far end of one of the pier, he spoke of of it with pride and joy while Perry and Patches were silent the whole say through the waterfront. I admit I got excited. It had been a long time since I had been on a boat.
Whatever image I had in my head as we passed by more and more ships dropped along with the look of excitement on my face when I saw it. Good thing I had my helmet back on.
It would be a bit to insulting to call it a floating rust bucket. But floating rust bucket it was. It looked like Choprot had pulled parts of a sunken ship from some depths, and then by himself simply plastered numerous layers of plate metal over where there was damage, and it looked that it was damaged everywhere. And I would learn later that he did exactly that. Oh well, I couldn't back out now. My pride would not let me.
We climbed up on deck, as rotten as the rest of the ship, and I saw the scurvy crew i would be staying with for a short while. Most where the same kind of brutish green men that Choprot was, with some slight differences, the rest filled out with a number of other humanoid races, and a few that were beast but seemed just as capable as the rest of the crew. Perry pointed out the quarters to me and the captain called a meeting to the crew, likely to explain what was going to happen in the next few day. I could have stayed to listen, but fatigue was washing over me and I found I could barely keep awake. I opted out, and took to my small quarters with its cot and enough room to just stand in. I flopped onto the bed, weapons and armor and all, and I begin to think over what has happened to me.
Less that eight hours ago, I was fighting in fell to save humanity and Earth itself. When I was first pulled it I was raging at the Omni for stealing my weapons, but now that I had the time to think and realized it was something else. When I returned from Hell the first time, I found Earth in ruins, it's cities laid to waste and the sky clouted and dark. I fought hard to save people, but when I fought in the streets I saw all the massacred civilians and soldiers that died at the hands of the undead and demonic monsters. Even with the Iron of Sin now nothing but a pile of shit on the floor of Hell, I did not know if that stopped the demons that were still alive in the real world. I didn't even know if my family and friend were alive, if they got out in time of if they were slaughters when the hellgate first appeared. Considering that the first thing I found when I got back to Earth was the head of my pet rabbit Daisy on a spike, my stomach turned at the though of what might have happened to them.
Gone from the love and warmth of friends and home for three year, to return in the midst of madness and death, and now I was swooped away for the entertainment of some godly being. I couldn't let this happen. I was the one who stopped Hell itself, and now I couldn't do anything. I had to get home, if only I could look in the eyes of all the people who lost their homes and loved ones and I could tell them that it's going to be okay.
"...It's going to be okay" I told myself, and I drifted off to the first peaceful sleep i had in a long time.
"So, ya want to take Crescent Lagoon by yourself?" The nautical ork asked with his big toothy grin "Ya must think you'ze a real tough nob if ya can stomp what's taken three other krews to fail" his beady red eyes glaces over me, and I could tell that he was trying to size me up. Judging by the smirk he was poorly trying to hide, he either believed I could do it or just found my bravado was amusing. The other two looked less sure, but they followed after the captain's lead. "But I bet you'ze new 'ere, and dat's where I come in. Ya need a map and a boat, but nothing comes free" He leans in, waiting to hear out my side of the offer.
"You're smarter than you look" I joked to the captain, which got a great guffaw from the big lug. "Clearly there's something there that you and your crew-cut friend here wants, otherwise you wouldn't be talking about it. I go in by myself, with you nearby for extraction. I wreck shop, take whatever isn't nailed down, we split the loot, and I'll be off with my share" It was a boast, I admit, but it was one I could back up, What could possibly be so dangerous in a naval base that rivaled the demons I've faced before
"That's very generous, for someone willing to put themselves at risk for very little" Perry narrowed his eyes at his me, his suspicion almost palpable. Couldn't blame him. I'd be pretty suspicious if I was in his place too. Crazy guy carrying around an armory on his back and saying he'll happily crash a military base for cash and glory? I'd wonder if that guy was off his rocker, or in it for something else. Not that I'm crazy. Nope. Don't even think It.
"Well, your captain is right" I turned down his suspicion, trying to make it seem I was on the ork's side. "I am new here, and I'm looking just to get my hand on anything that's worth something. I lost a lot of stuff when I got pulled into this shithole by that Omni asshole" The table fell silent at that, and the three sea dogs stared me down with the same surprise. I just sat there dumbfounded, not one hundred percent sure what I said to get that reaction. Perry leaned towards his boss, whispering something that I couldn't quite make out, but the ork thumped the man in the chest with his bionic arm very quickly, causing the first mate to double over.
"I know 'e's a prime, you git! I 'eard 'im meself!" Choprot yelled at Perry, revealing the subject of the attempted whispered conversation and a bit angry. I was left more amused. This is the second time I've heard that term today, and I was of course curious at what it meant.
"What's a prime, exactly? From what I've heard, they are just people that cause problems" I asked, and while captain Choprot harassed a waitress for another drink, Perry managed to unfurl himself from his damaged stomach to explained.
"You're not far off" Perry said, the annoyance in his voice relaying some experience in the area. I was given a not-so-friendly explanation about "primes", interspersed with barbed comments that were likely aimed at primes and me by proxy. But his middle school level burns were weak sause in the multiversal competition of insults, the most greenhorn space marine could have swore him to pastey whiteness by comparison.
"They sound like a bunch of dick" I explained
"You're one of those dicks"
"I never said I wasn't a dick" I retorted, and got another set of loud laughs from the green ork.
"Ha, this grot's funny!" the captain elbowed his first mate, who had a frown down to his chin. "When can ya start?!"
---
Once pleasantries and dinner was done, I was lead away from the town to the docks. Where ships of all kind stood port to starboard. Graceful wooden ships with masts being lowered next to ironclad battleships with cannons gleaming and control decks jutting up against the sky. Sailors, just as varied as the people I saw in town, rushing about with supplies, cargo, and equipment as the night started to settle in. It made me think of the USSMC's spaceports that dotted the planets that could support them. Well, trade the sterile steel catwalks with creaking wooden planks and the bleak, hostile nothingness of space with the slightly less hostile ocean. Captain Choprot's personal ride, was off on the far end of one of the pier, he spoke of of it with pride and joy while Perry and Patches were silent the whole say through the waterfront. I admit I got excited. It had been a long time since I had been on a boat.
Whatever image I had in my head as we passed by more and more ships dropped along with the look of excitement on my face when I saw it. Good thing I had my helmet back on.
It would be a bit to insulting to call it a floating rust bucket. But floating rust bucket it was. It looked like Choprot had pulled parts of a sunken ship from some depths, and then by himself simply plastered numerous layers of plate metal over where there was damage, and it looked that it was damaged everywhere. And I would learn later that he did exactly that. Oh well, I couldn't back out now. My pride would not let me.
We climbed up on deck, as rotten as the rest of the ship, and I saw the scurvy crew i would be staying with for a short while. Most where the same kind of brutish green men that Choprot was, with some slight differences, the rest filled out with a number of other humanoid races, and a few that were beast but seemed just as capable as the rest of the crew. Perry pointed out the quarters to me and the captain called a meeting to the crew, likely to explain what was going to happen in the next few day. I could have stayed to listen, but fatigue was washing over me and I found I could barely keep awake. I opted out, and took to my small quarters with its cot and enough room to just stand in. I flopped onto the bed, weapons and armor and all, and I begin to think over what has happened to me.
Less that eight hours ago, I was fighting in fell to save humanity and Earth itself. When I was first pulled it I was raging at the Omni for stealing my weapons, but now that I had the time to think and realized it was something else. When I returned from Hell the first time, I found Earth in ruins, it's cities laid to waste and the sky clouted and dark. I fought hard to save people, but when I fought in the streets I saw all the massacred civilians and soldiers that died at the hands of the undead and demonic monsters. Even with the Iron of Sin now nothing but a pile of shit on the floor of Hell, I did not know if that stopped the demons that were still alive in the real world. I didn't even know if my family and friend were alive, if they got out in time of if they were slaughters when the hellgate first appeared. Considering that the first thing I found when I got back to Earth was the head of my pet rabbit Daisy on a spike, my stomach turned at the though of what might have happened to them.
Gone from the love and warmth of friends and home for three year, to return in the midst of madness and death, and now I was swooped away for the entertainment of some godly being. I couldn't let this happen. I was the one who stopped Hell itself, and now I couldn't do anything. I had to get home, if only I could look in the eyes of all the people who lost their homes and loved ones and I could tell them that it's going to be okay.
"...It's going to be okay" I told myself, and I drifted off to the first peaceful sleep i had in a long time.
![[Image: oGzCtPC.png]](http://i.imgur.com/oGzCtPC.png)