Chapter Text
It felt like his head was being beat in with a hammer, slowly splitting his skull apart.
He could hear things, the sound of bullets in the distance, Waaaghing orks, and vehicles moving, letting out loud roars and making the wind smell like fuel.
That’s when he heard the noise of heavy footsteps, and he already knew they could not belong to any human. They kept moving until coming to a stop right next to him, at which point he cracked open his eyes, peeking upwards seeing the blue sky but also a familiar face looking down at him with an almost somber expression.
“Takt…” he couldn’t get the rest of the name out as he was forced to grit his teeth against the headache.
“General?” Taktikus asked, sounding surprised, as if he had not expected him to say anything at all.
Nestor kept looking up at him, the ork was covered in the blood of the Tyranids but also, weirdly brightly red colored blood. Nestor however summed that up to a trick of the light and not actually being human blood that stained his clothes and weapons. Because that wouldn’t make sense. They were still allies.
Speaking of weapons, the colonel had a knife in one hand, and a surprised expression and seemed almost…guilty? If orks even could feel guilty.
“What's going on?” Nestor forced the question out of his mouth, his voice not above a whisper being carried on the wind, he was unsure if the warboss could even hear him.
He just kind of stood there looking down at him. He was standing over him, his back towards the sun making him covered in shadows, and his eyes seemed to almost glow red. Taktikus may not be the biggest of orks but from this perspective he looked like a giant. And still Nestor felt no fear.
Taktikus had long stopped being a simple monster in his eyes. These were not the beasts from Imperium children stories made to scare humans into never even thinking of aligning with the xenos. This was Taktikus , his ally, and might he even dare to say it, his friend . The one that had been there for him, helped him when everyone else did nothing but complain and question him.
The ork just stared at him, the grip around the knife tightening for a second confusing the general.
“Is something wrong?” he added in a soft tone.
He wanted to reach out, to help, but his head was killing him and his whole body felt heavy, it felt like he could do no more than force his eyes to stay open and quietly speak.
Taktikus whole body stiffened for a second, as if Nestor’s quiet pained words had been like a chilling wave. Suddenly, without explanation Taktikus body relaxed and he put the knife back in his belt and bent down.
“Don’t worry about it” he said, more like a command than words of comfort. He reached down, and grabbed him, one arm around his back, one under his knees before he lifted him up off the ground like he weighed nothing (this was honestly a nice surprise as Nestor had assumed Taktikus would rather just throw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes). “I’m taking you back to the humie camp”
He wasted no time and began to walk while Nestor just layed there, pressed against his chest, feeling the warmth from his body through his clothes while breathing in the earthy scent he gave off.
It felt nice, being pressed against his big muscular body and he quickly felt a blush come on which he tried to hide by pressing his face harder against the orks body. He closed his eyes for a second letting his head rest against the other while trying to ignore the wet meaty noises when Taktikus stepped onto one of the probably thousand of bodies covering the battlefield.
“Thank you” Nestor whispered and still feeling a bit loopy he continued “I wish you were one of my colonels” Nestor would have exchanged Taktikus for Phocus in a heartbeat. Because at least Taktikus could be relied upon and did not constantly try to undermine him.
The grip Taktikus had around him went tighter for a second before the very next moment it relaxed.
“Your head still all messed up from that weird Bugeye” the ork replied, before something else seemed to catch the warbosses annotation.
Nestor could hear orks barking to each other, and a couple of human voices, but he could not really make out what was said. Taktikus would respond to the yells, answering and giving what Nestor guessed were orders in his own language which the general had no chance of understanding as the knowledge of the ork language was pretty much non-existent.
“What happened? We win?” he asked.
“We won. You killed that bugeye and it sent out some kind of pulse. Knocked out a lot of humies, we orks is fine. We have thick heads”
“How many are dead?”
There was a long moment of silence.
“A lot of humies” Nestor groaned.
“Another victory like that and I think we are done for.”
“Yeah…”
They kept moving until they made it to the human camp. At once Nestor could hear humans coming rushing towards them speaking low gothic, quickly guiding Taktikus to one of the medical tents. Taktikus explained the situation as Nestor still had a migraine so bad it made it hard to speak.
As they got into the tent Taktikus was told to put down Nestor on one of the beds so the medic could take a look at him.
At that Taktikus laid Nestor down on the bed before mentioning something about ‘painboyz’ and not trusting them. The medics inside started to talk about human medicine and medical practices, most of it probably went over Taktikus but it seemed to calm him enough for him to leave the tent and the general in their hands.
After some agonizing hours, half a dozen pils, Nestor felt good enough to ask where the ork was, just to learn he had left as soon as he dropped him off.
That did disappoint him, but Taktikus had his own army to lead and take care off so it was not a surprise that he had left but still…Still it made Nestor's heart ache.
“They say the orks killed humans and were looting as soon as the fight ended.” Vatatze said, picking up yet another dog tag and writing down the name, getting ready for the mass messages that would soon be sent out to the families, telling them how their children, siblings and parents had died with honour serving the Imperium and the Emperor.
Nestor was silent for a second just looking at the tag he was currently holding, before he rubbed his thumb over the name, trying to get it a bit more readable.
“They are orks. Of course they’re gonna loot. They’re like magpies, it's in their nature” he replied. He was no ordo xenos member, but from what he had been able to learn about orks from both working with them and against them he had noticed they seemed to have a case of sticky fingers. And who cares if they stole a bit of scrap, most of it would probably be considered trash or unsalvageable either way. One man's trash one orks treasure.
“What about the human killings?” she then asked, not letting it slip past her that he had not fully responded to her statement.
“Probably some adrenaline rush, had to work the blood lust out of their system. It’s in their nature they can't help it...That is if this is true” he replied before frowning “Who told you this?” he asked. Maybe it was just a rumor someone was spreading because they did not like their allegiance.
He pushed that image of red blood on Taktikus blade out of his mind. He had been delirious back then, he could have just seen wrong. No way the orks had started to kill human soldiers while they were knocked out. They were still allies.
“Been going around camp” she replied, writing down another name. Nestor wrinkled his nose ridge.
“Bet it’s Phocus spreading it around”
“Maybe” she agreed, though her words were a bit bitter, but it was not directed to Phocus.
She didn’t like that Nestor had beaten him, but she also had not said it directly knowing that it was not her place to question the general's actions. She had also heard about other generals doing worse, shooting people for questioning them, having them flogged until they bleed out for their crime of “dishonoring them", just beating the colonel was considered pretty mild, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.
They all had been stuck in this war, on this planet, for so long they had grown pretty tight knit, knowing that usually they could not expect help from the rest of the Imperium and had only themselves to rely on. So even if the three of them did not always see eye to eye, Nestor’s violent actions towards the colonel had been a surprise to the staff sergeant.
She sighed.
“Won’t matter much anyway, the Tyranids are pretty much done for, the next step is to turn our guns back on the orks.” she placed the dog tag she had been holding carefully into the bag they were collecting them “So he will get his way soon enough”
“Yeah…I guess” Nestor agreed, but could not fully hide his dislike for that predicted future.
He knew the allegiance would soon end. They would just have to separate the armies first and split supplies but after that Taktikus and Nestor would be on opposite sides again, Phocus would have been proven wrong and still get his way…Or would he?
Maybe Nestor could talk to Taktikus? Convince him to join him, have his own ship in his fleet as he had dreamed about. The Imperium had fallen short but the orks could always supply, and had given him armies, machines, artillery for nothing in return than metal and food. If they stayed allied it felt like they could do anything, bring down any threat. By the Emperor, they might even be able to force back the whole Tyranid invasion!
Golden light and great green. That was the answer. Sure, Nestor did not belive that t’au nonsense about aligning all xenos, but they did have a bit of a point. Orks, orks could be made an exception for, together they could rule this galaxy. Humans hated xenos, orks loved to fight, just point the green tied towards the Imperiums enemies and they would not have any issues.
A symbiotic relationship.
They could have the best army in the galaxy. The strongest, and Nestor could be the one to open the doors for it. All he had to do was convince Taktikus.
The door slammed open with a ‘crack’ as the wooden door broke at the lock, making Nestor jump and pull the gun out from under the pillow, but before he could raise it he saw Vatatze standing by the door breathing heavily as if she had been running.
“What-?”
“General Pyrrhus, you need to get up, now ” she said between breaths and then looked around the room, spotting his backpack and started to pack it, shoving ammunition and gear into it in a panic.
“W-what are you doing?!” he flew up to his feet standing in the room with only his underwear. “Are we under attack?!” Had the orks betrayed them already? Had the Tyranids come back stronger? He needed to find Taktikus maybe they-
“No.” she replied, not even looking up from the backpack “You need to leave”
That just left him even more confused.
“Leave-?”
“Phocus reached out to the inquisition behind our backs. They’re on the way. They know you aligned with the orks” Nestor’s eyes went wide and he felt his blood grow cold and his hands turned into tight fists.
Of course that bastard had told them about this, and turned him into the black sheep. He had saved them all, made a pretty stable relationship with the xenos and how was he repaid? By being thrown under the damn Baneblade. He was not seen as a hero, but a dirty traitor who had betrayed the Imperium for what? Power? Hubris? Because he just loved orks (he didn’t think too much about that). He had done all this for the Imperium, for the soldiers that believed in him, for this horrible planet. And this was his reward, the fruits for his labor?
If he was lucky those fruits would taste like a bullet to the head, if he was unlucky, torture and then a rope.
“I can defend myself.” he tried despite knowing that it was probably little point “We saved this planet from the Tyranids, evacuated whole cities with minimal losses that must mean-” Vatatze finally turned and looked at him.
“You know they won’t care” she cut him off which would have probably gotten her into trouble in any other circumstance.
“It might just be a trick.” he then replied, knowing Phocus had tried to trick him into leaving the planet before. Maybe this was another scheme of his “Phocus-”
“Do you trust me?” she cut him off once again, looking him right in the eyes.
He was silent, thinking over her words.
“With my life” She was probably one of the few he still trusted. One of the few he still thought had his best interests at heart.
“Then pack your stuff and run. Either they will torture and then kill you or just blow your brains out.” she said “This is not a trick. This is a reality that will come down on you sir. You need to act now, or lock in your fate”
He looked down at the bag she was packing for him, then at the door that she had forced open out of pure panic and desperation. Had come running here knowing his life was in danger, that if she was too late his life would be in the hands of the inquisition.
Innocence proves nothing.
He started to put on his uniform while Vatatze went back to work and kept grabbing his stuff and packing it.
“Is there a ship?” he asked.
“No, everything is on lockdown, we got ordered to not leave or let you leave” her hands stilled for a second “You think…You think Taktikus will take you? Hide you?”
“Yes,” he replied at once. He must.
The other option was trying to survive in the wilderness. He was dead either way, he was willing to test his luck with the orks.
As soon as Nestor was dressed and Vatatze had packed up most of the stuff they ran out into the night, moving on fast feet and taking paths they knew there were no patrolls at the moment until they reached the tree line at which point they stopped.
Nestor looked forward, into the darkness of the woods, the moon light shining down between the leaves.
He looked up ahead, knowing somewhere in that direction were the orks. His only salvation. He didn’t know if he should laugh or cry.
He turned back to Vatatze, who was still standing by his side, not looking at the woods but looking right at him. Worry seemed to have made its home on her face, an expression he had rarely seen before now coming from her.
He took a deep breath, about to tell her the last order he would even give her.
“Blame it all on me.” he told her in a stern voice “I won’t be angry at you. Tell them I threatened you, tortured people into following, anything to get yourself out of trouble. Drag my name through the mud, tell everyone else who might defend me to do the same” It was already stained to the point it was uncleanable in the inquestions eyes, so she might as well wipe all her dirt off on him, wash her hands clean.
That was all he could do now.
Her expression said it all. She didn’t want to. Didn’t want to portray him as this monster but she knew as well as him this was the best choice. Better that one of their heads was on the chopping block and not both.
She saulted him.
“Then sir, for the last time, I just wish to say it was an honour working with you general Pyrrhus sir” he gave her a tired smile back.
“The honour was all mine staff sergeant Vatatze. The Emperor protects”
“The Emperor protects” she responded.
Now, with no further words to be said, Nestor took off into the woods.
Nestor ran into the forest, his shoes beating against the dirt ground while praying quietly to the Emperor that the last attack had been enough to scare away all the Tyranids from the area.
He looked up between the plant foliage, seeing the moon. He was pretty sure he was going the right way, the orks had slowly pulled further away from the human camp. Nestor guessed they were bracing for some kind of betrayal now that the main threat was gone.
Finding a specific Blood Axe was hard, following a whole camp? That was easier.
He made it to the most recent camp seeing everything had been uprooted and moved. All that was left were the signs something had been here. Grass being walked across so much it was nothing but mud, trees cut down for lumber, and black charred marks from some kind of contraception exploding.
Nestor looked out over it, seeing tracks in the med from heavy machinery and he quickly started to follow it, hoping it would lead right to the orks. He also dearly hoped they had not gone too far.
Still he pulled his gun out and held it tightly as he looked out into the trees standing by the side of the makeshift road not trusting the darkness as it looked too inviting for a predator to hide in it and then jump out and claim him as meal.
He kept going and tried to to stay vigilant but his mind quickly started to drift, thinking about how quickly his life had changed.
Of course the Inquisition had shown up now. Ignore how Nestor had called, begged and prayed for help to defend this damned planet and was met with nothing but silence, and denials for his requests. But they got a whiff he had teamed up with orks and they showed up faster than flies on grox shit.
Damn them . Damn the Imperium . He tried his best to follow their orders, to protect this planet with what little he was given, but when he does it the wrong way, he will be executed for it? He had held this line with nothing for ages, but no one cared about that. No one cared what you did, all they noticed was your shortcomings.
Doomed if he does, doomed if he doesn't.
He sighed and looked up to the sky again, at the moons and the thousands of stars that shone on the sky.
At least the Emperor knows, knows he does his best to follow his words, knows his heart is truly his, but that he’s now hunted into a corner. He had nowhere else to go, and that was not his fault, it was the other rotten part of the Imperium. They did not understand the Emperor’s true words and meanings. Did their god truly care about how they did things if they still reached His goals, still claimed the universe in His name?
The Emperor was still golden, but Nestor could not carry out His will in these conditions. The Imperium was stopping His holy mission-
A gunshot rang out, echoing out into the dark night, he could hear the sound of the air shifting as the bullets barely passed his ear.
He let out a scream and fell to the floor at once, landing in the mud, his arms going over his head trying to protect it.
He heard some barks from up head which he recognized as their ork language.
“It’s general Pyrruhs!” he screamed, “I need to speak to colonel Taktikus!” he yelled this all while staying on the forest floor, staying low and hoping that if the ork decided to ignore his words they would keep missing. They were not exactly known for aiming.
There were some more barks of ork language and then he heard the sound of footsteps and he dared to look up, seeing a pair of red eyes glowing in the dark, looking right at him.
“Humie Generul?” they spoke, words clearly not sitting right in their mouth.
“Yes-I mean, umm,” he said, not being sure how to convey what he wanted. “Taktikus?” He was not sure how to say ‘I need to speak to Taktikus right now’ in orkish…Honestly, he didn’t know how to say a lot in orkish.
“Kurnel Taktikus” the ork said, nodding showing they had understood that at least.
“Yes!” he said as he stood up and then pointed at himself “General um…” he lifted his hand like a mouth and closed and opened it “Taktikus”.
The ork just stared at him for a second, if they were trying to decipher his charades or if they were trying to think of a response was unclear.
“Generul gob ug Taktikus?” Nestor forze for a second.
“Yes?” he replied and nodded with some hesitation, he was almost certain ‘gob’ meant mouth, but maybe it meant talking as well?
The ork nodded and motioned with his hand to follow so quickly Nestor started to walk behind them.
He really hoped this wasn’t a trick as he was forced to jog to keep up with the big ork.
Soon enough the sound of orks grew louder, several hundred voices speaking, and screaming at each other along with the sound of machinery, guns firing, and time to time explosions.
He saw the light between the trees as several fires had been lit in the big ork camp among the tents and haphazardly made buildings.
Nestor looked at it all, only having seen their camp from a distance before but now he was about to be right amongst them.
The first orks who saw them looked a bit confused, staring at Nesto, and especially his medals before turning back to the ork that was acting like a guide and said something.
The one he was following barked something back, the word ‘Boss’ being one that Nestot at least recognized.
The other ork pointed further inside the camp and said something, and the ork he was following looked back towards Nesto and made a nod forward and they kept walking.
Nestor looked around as they walked closer to the heart of the camp. He noticed several orks turning their eyes from what they were doing, no matter if they were cleaning their guns or stitching someone's arm back on.
He even noticed some grots looking at him just for them to get kicked for having paused in their work.
Nestor had never really been in the middle of an ork base, he had not dared being surrounded by orks like this before. During his and Taktikus first meeting an ork had tried to kill them so Taktikus leash on his own soldiers only went so far and Nestor was not willing to test it, so it had been better for conversations happening in the human camp or on neutral ground.
Orks were keeping a close eye on him and talking to each other in that language Nestor barely knew a handful of words. He really should have asked Taktikus to teach him a little.
He felt like a lamb being led to slaughter if he was being honest, a sheep in the lion's den. All of them just waiting to jump out at him and rip him into chunks, eat his meat and pocket his medals to adore on their own chests.
He kept his hand on his gun, while trying to act calm and like his heart was not beating so hard inside his chest it felt like it was going to give out.
They walked towards a tent, and Nestor could hear several voices from the inside, one he clearly recognized as the one he was searching and he immediately felt some of that anxiety leave him.
The leading ork pulled the fabric aside and the conversation inside went dead.
Nestor peeked around the big ork to see a makeshift table inside surrounded by around 5 orks, along with Taktikus. In the middle of the table was a map with red markings all over it along with a couple of bottle caps that seemed to symbolise different groups. There was one real model on the map which seemed to originally been a Valkyrie model, but was now orkified. ‘ Huh, he had wondered where that model had gone’ .
Taktikus immediately frowned and started to say something that sounded reprimanding before his eyes seemed to land on Nestor. As soon as they did he stopped mid sentence and just stared at him with a confused look before shaking out of his surprise.
“General?” he questioned, switching to low gothic not even trying to hide his surprise. “Why are you here?”
“Hello, colonel” Nestor replied, trying to make his voice sound professional and in control even if he was covered in mud, surrounded by orks he did not trust, and at least one head shorter than the smallest ork in the room “May I speak to you?”
At this Taktikus looked around the table and said something and the other orks got up to their feet and walked out while grumbling unhappily. The ork that had led Nestor here quickly followed the rest leaving Nestor and Taktikus alone.
“Sit, general,” he said, motioning to the chair with a smile. Nestor walked further inside the tent. The smell of orks were heavy in the air. He sat down on a chair that was all wood, no padding and also way too big to be fit for a human.
As Nestor sat down he tried his best to brush off some dirt, looking a bit more presentable in front of the ork warboss. Taktikus just observed him as he got himself settled, his gaze upon him making Nestor’s heart beat fast once again. But this time not out of fear.
It never beat fast out of fear when it came to Taktikus.
“If I knew you were coming I would have had refreshments ready” the ork told him. It was polite but Netstor was glad he had not offered any as what orks considered edible was a bit more wide than humans.
“I’m sorry for dropping in like this” Nestor apologized and lifted his head to meet the others eyes, “It’s just that…Something happened”
That made Taktikus frown. He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms over his chest.
“What?”
“I…I’m going to be branded a traitor to the Imperium”
It was only truly starting to hit him now.
He would not be able to go back. He was throwing his lot in with the orks, but honestly what other options had he? He was no heretic, he would never turn away from the Emperor but neither would he kill himself because the rest of the Imperium didn’t agree with his views of a xeno imperial allegiances.
That left him with joining the orks or walking into the forest and dying from Tyranids. The choice was not hard but it tasted bitter. However, he was a general, he’d been forced to make hard decisions like this before.
“Why?”
“For joining with, well you ” he sighed rubbing his temples “The inquisition will come for me, and if they find me they’ll kill me”
An expression of rage appeared on Taktikus face at that. His brow furrowed and he lifted his lip slightly into a small snarl.
“You want me to kill them for you?” It sounded not like a question, but like an offer. An offer for Taktikus and his warband unleashed devastation on any inquisitor showing up on this planet trying to send Nestor’s soul to the warp.
Nestor felt his heart leap inside his chest imagining it. Imaginning Taktikus fighting for him, for his safety, for his life. But even if it was a sweet dream, so did Nestor know it was just that, a dream .
“If you do, there will be others. My life with the Imperium is over. So I must find somewhere else to go” he saw the moment it clicked for Taktikus what he was getting at. “I was wondering if you maybe…If you maybe had space in your army for a human?”
There was silence for a moment as Taktikus just stared at him before leaning his head slightly to the side.
“You want to join…us?”
“Yes.” he replied, trying to make his voice as steady as possible “I- I know I’m no ork but I still have uses. I could help with human knowledge? Or suggest tactics, or” he fell silent, stopping his own rambling “Or whatever you want me for”
“You truly want to be in this army?” he questioned, a bit of suspicion slipping into his voice “Want to join the warband?”
“It’s this or, running around in the wild” he swallowed, feeling his heart beat faster inside his chest “And I have to admit, being around you have been a…” he moved his hand in the air trying to find the right words “A pleasant experience and I would not mind staying by your side”
Taktikus was silent for a moment more, pulling air through between his teeth as he was thinking.
“You know this is my army. Which means I call the shots, I’m the boss” he said motioning to himself and all the “medals” shining over his chest. “Which mean you will be bellow me”
“I’m fully aware. I’m aware that humans aren't really looked upon with favor for orks.”
“I look at you in ‘favor’ ” he corrected at once “Not much krumping power, but you got a bit of kunning” he said leaning over the table and poked Nestor in the forehead “And if there is something we Blood Axe’s like, it’s a real kunning plan” he laughed before leaning back in his chair again “You could be my…Humie general” he mused “My right hand humie…” he then frowned “Best not use the general title too much, don’t think general Straturgum would like that”
Nestor had no idea who Straturgum was but it didn’t seem to matter as Taktikus continued, seemingly having changed topic again.
“We also do things the ork way and we might…Might attack humies. Are you ready to go against your own? I know humies at times has issues with that”.
Nestro was silent for a moment.
Could he go against the Imperium, kill their own soldiers? Well, killing humans was not an issue, they killed traitors all the time, but the possibility of killing loyal servants? Could he live with that?
He rubbed at one of the Aquila without even realizing he was doing it.
Well…The Imperium had betrayed him first hadn’t it? And he was one lone human? How much damage could he do, what did it matter if he lived amongst orks that were going to kill humans, or not living amongst them and they would kill humans either way?
Maybe…Maybe he could change stuff if he stayed with them, stayed alive. Convice more humans to see the truth about orks and humans? Maybe he could make the orks hold back on their cruelty. Maybe he could still do something to get his name remembered as a hero.
“I’m ready”
The great green and the golden light together as he had wanted it, his dream still partly coming together, just in reverse. Taktikus would never travel on his ship and join his army, Netsor was joining his.
Taktikus mouth lifted into a big grin, showing off his tusks and sharp teeth.
“Welcome to the Blood Axe’s general” he said and leaned over the table stretching out his hand, which Nestor took and shook.
“Thank you for having me, Colonel,” he replied and then let go. There was a long road ahead, and he didn’t know where it would lead him, but he was ready to find out.
He looked down at the map on the table again, looking at all the scribbles, art, stains and bottle caps. But what really caught his eyes again was the little model plain.
“What is that?” he asked, pointing at it.
At once Taktikus expression turned from all smiles to faked confusion.
“A model”
“Yes I know that. But what is it symbolising?”
“Well…There was a lot of scrap on that battlefield and we built a nice little kroozer. We are going to another planet for krumping, general's orders. Won’t be an issue for you since you’re leaving the humies right?”
He said it like a dare, like he doubted Nestor was genuine and had just said he wanted to join to spy.
If that was what he thought he was about to be disappointed.
“This will be perfect”