8 Chapter 8 – Gol D. Loota

I crossed the ocean in my Command Barge. I was standing on the podium of the barge, with Rahkikh and Thaszan on each side, piloting the barge. There were two Immortals in the pilot's seats. The barge flew like a jet, I take it back, comparing the barge to a jet would be an insult

We were faster than a jet, we broke the sound barrier a few minutes ago and we were still accelerating, I held the barge tight so I wouldn't fly off during the sonic boom, but that wasn't my biggest concern, it was the scenery around me, it was the sort of thing you'd see in a war or natural disaster movie.

The day turned night, the sunlight didn't pass through the sea of pitch black clouds above us, the thunder was deafening, to the point where I had to use commands to talk to Rahkikh and Thaszan and the Immortals, the rain would make it difficult for me to see if I had eyes, but it was nothing more than an inconvenience now, lightning, even though I'm Necron, they worry me, lightning fell like rain, hitting anything that was metallic or was high enough.

Looking down, I watched the dark, raging sea, huge waves rising and falling, engulfing the flaming wreckage of the ork ships and their downed planes, the great metallic craft crashing into each other before sinking, the few remaining orks jumping into the sea or grabbing anything to float, they did their best not to sink, but it wasn't just the orks who suffered from this storm.

I saw my units going down as well, Night Scythes, Doom Scythes, Tomb Blades, Ghost Arks and Doomsday Arks, knocked down by the Ork cannons or the storm's lightning, the weather was deadly for those still flying, but none of us had choice, the orks and I, we had to fight with all our resources.

Passing by my units, they disappeared in a green light, teleported to the tomb, to be repaired and returned to combat, a vicious cycle, but normal for Necrons, rarely are Necrons truly killed, I intend to keep it that way.

In the distance, followed by a path of destruction, I saw my units fighting orks, green lightning, bullets, rockets and artillery glowed in the darkness, the sound of explosions being drowned out by thunder, my units glowed like green stars in the sky, highlighted against the rain, thanks to the protocols I used, the fires from the orks' cannons created bright bursts of red, black and orange while the bullets created small, almost imperceptible lights.

Strangely, this vision possessed a kind of beauty.

That's enough, I've daydreamed long enough, I've spotted approaching ork aircrafts. Dakkajets and Blitza-Bommer.

With a command, I called my units close, green lights flashed through the clouds, as if some kind of spirit moved among them, until the Doom Scythes and Night Scythes flew beside me in formation.

They arrived surprisingly quickly, thanks to the Command Barge, I can use it to send instant commands to all my units on the battlefield, I could also give orders to ships in orbit if I had any, another curiosity is that I don't control the barge, I give orders to the Immortals and the Immortals pilot the barge.

As now, a Dakkajet approached us, while firing, the bullets were blocked by a green barrier around the barge, with each collision the shield quickly appeared and disappeared, so I gave an order to the Immortal.

"Down the plane."

The Immortal complied with the order, firing the Gauss Cannon of the barge and hitting the Dakkajet in full, half of the jet together with its pilot had their atoms violently separated, what was left of the jet fell into the sea in a ball of fire.

Now I just need to get to the ship, with a command the barge and my units accelerated, amidst the storm the battle continued.

I ordered part of my aircrafts to go ahead to eliminate the orks in my path, and when the two sides approached, they opened fire as they flew in different directions, a Blitza-Bommer flew up with a Night Scythe chasing it.

A Doom Scythe flew down while a Dakkajet fired all of its weapons.

Above, below and around me, bolts of energy and bullets covered the air, ork planes and my aircrafts skirmishes. Those who lost were swallowed by the sea.

A screen opened in front of me, this screen showed a green triangle, me, being chased by two red triangles, orks, a red circle came out of one of the red triangles and came towards me, a rocket passed the side of the barge and exploded in front of me, I ordered the Immortal to dodge, flying down, past the explosion and then up again, we continued forward.

More red circles appeared on the radar, giving order after order, the Immortal did his best to pilot the barge, we flew to the left, inclined at almost ninety degrees, two rockets passed us, then we flew to the right, three more rockets passed by us, meanwhile, the barge's shield was pierced by bullets from the various machine guns fitted to each Ork plane.

Looking to the sides, I noticed the two ork planes flying parallel to me, they were close enough to check the pilots, they were shouting something, but I couldn't hear, the pilots raised their fists and hit something on the control panel of their planes, suddenly several openings appeared in their planes, I saw rocket tips coming out of each one.

The orks slowed their planes down behind me, then dozens of red circles appeared on the radar. I gave orders to the immortal.

As we flew, the Immortal made increasingly risky evasive maneuvers, we flew from top to bottom, from left to right, while the barge turned on its axis, if it had still been made of meat, it would have vomited, I saw that Rahkikh and Thaszan remained standing beside me, the two haven't moved an inch, meanwhile I have to cling to the barge to keep me from falling.

Rockets passed by the barge, creating explosions in front of me, going up and down the Immortal dodged them, so I gave another order to the Immortal, I ordered him to descend towards the sea, making a sudden dive the barge descended in a straight line, with the rockets right behind, as it approached the water, I ordered the Immortal to rise, and my plan worked, the rockets hit the water.

But I didn't lose the orks, a rain of bullets came from above, creating ripples in the water and hitting the barge's shield, time to get rid of my pursuers, I sent two orders, the Immortal reduced the speed of the barge sharply, causing the orks to pass us, then the second order went into action, from above, two Night Scythes came down firing.

Their Dual Link Tesla Destroyers opened holes in the orks planes, the two exploded in fire and smoke and fell into the sea, then I ordered the Scythes to accompany me, the green triangle in the center of the radar was accompanied by a green triangle on each side, I ordered the Immortal to go up.

Red triangles appeared on the radar, in front of the green triangle, ten in total, looking up, I saw ten planes coming towards me, luckily the Scythes are not the only units accompanying me on the battlefield.

I gave an order, then the ocean turned green, it started with a light, and then, another, and another, tens, hundreds, thousands, millions of scarabs came out of the bottom of the ocean and flew with the barge, the scarabs flew around me, forming a double helix, I ordered the Immortal and the Scythes to fire their weapons and the orks did the same.

Three of the ten planes were shot down, the rest were taken down by my scarabs, I ordered them to break their formation and form a wall in front of the planes, the scarabs took bullets and rockets, until the orks aircrafts collided with them, looking back saw the scarab covered planes being torn to pieces, the scarabs made quick work of dismantling them.

When I looked ahead, I realized that I made a mistake, I didn't order the Immortal to stop rising, now we were about to enter a storm cloud, I tried to order the Immortal to descend, but it was too late, I saw lightning falling towards me, then the world turned white.

I don't know how much time passed, I heard a muffled noise that got louder and louder, when my vision returned, I was greeted by a screen with a message flashing repeatedly.

"Shields Off!"

Shit! Looking around I saw total darkness. Was I in the storm cloud? A bolt of lightning passed alongside the barge, missing by a few inches, yes, I was. I ordered the Immortal to dodge the lightning while I thought about what to do.

Looking to the sides, I saw that with each lightning that passed, an outline shone between the clouds, my Scythes were still here, I ordered them to approach, the Scythes cut the dark cloud as if it were the surface of a lake and stopped beside me , my satisfaction was short-lived when lightning struck each one, first the one on the left and then the one on the right, the two Scythes were thrown back as they caught fire, the two were teleported to the tomb.

What to do? What to do? Looking further ahead I saw a light shining, the exit of that cloud, I ordered the Immortal to go towards the light, the Immortal did his best to dodge the lightning, but the force of nature was not easily fought, a lightning hit the left side of the barge, another hit the right side, each leaving a smoking hole.

"Alert! Damage taken!"

"I know!" I shouted at the screen in front of me, looking ahead, I saw that the exit was close, I ordered the Immortal to fly faster, but as if the cloud tried to stop me from leaving, electricity flowed near the exit of the storm cloud.

Not this time! I swung the Staff of Light above my head, building up energy, then the cloud fired its lightning and I fired mine.

The world turned white again.

When my vision returned, I was greeted with the sound of rain and thunder, I left the cloud, immediately ordered the Immortal to fly lower, we were at an acceptable height, not too high, not too low, but my attention switched to the radar, several red triangles followed me, looking back I saw several orks planes behind me, pursued by my units.

I considered letting my units handle the problem, but something in front of me made me change my mind, a wave the size of a mountain was coming towards me, and this wave was carrying several ork ships in pieces and on fire, the ships were almost standing at ninety degrees in the wave.

I didn't have time to dodge, so I sent more orders, my flying units turned around, meanwhile scarabs came out of the water and enveloped my barge, forming a bubble, after which I let the barge enter the wave.

Everything went dark, the only source of light being the green lights of my body, barge, and the Necrons accompanying me. I can't keep flying without seeing where I'm going. I've taken control of the scarabs and saw the world from their point of view.

And the first thing I saw was the pincer of a giant crab trying to crush me, I ordered the Immortal to accelerate and the barge passed through the pincer before it closed, we continued on, dodging shipwrecks, a ship broken in two came from above, I didn't have time to dodge sideways, so I got into one of the halves of the ship.

It was dark here. I made the scarabs increase the light intensity of their bodies, serving as hundreds of green lanterns. I navigated the corridors of the ship, lightly colliding with the walls. This place barely had room to move.

I passed the corpses of drowned or disintegrated orks, parts of necrons that must have already been teleported to the tomb, ammo rooms, bedrooms, kitchens, storage rooms. Until I reached an alley, I controlled part of the scarabs, just enough not to break the bubble around me and I made them hit the wall at the end of the corridor with their legs.

Eventually they managed to open a hole and I got out of the ship, I made the scarabs return to the bubble, but as if I didn't have enough problems, something was chasing me, the giant sea serpent, I ordered the Immortal to accelerate even more, and the serpent swam faster, getting closer and closer, the serpent opened its mouth to swallow us, but luckily we got out of the wave.

But the serpent decided to follow us too, the serpent jumped out of the wave, with its mouth open, falling towards us, I controlled the scarabs, making them break the bubble around me and cover the face of the serpent, the serpent roared pain as hundreds of sharp legs slashed and pierced its face, it gave me time to go away.

After going through that series of near-death experiences that would have stopped my heart if I still had one, I spotted my objective, the Warboss ship. The ship was the size of an aircraft carrier, covered in weapons, painted black and red, pirate themed of course, and for some reason had masts.

To my delight, the units I sent in the first wave managed to close in on the ship, Tomb Blades, Doomsday Arks, Ghost Arks, Night Scythes and Doom Scythes were all attacking the ship, but they were being held in place by the armor and offensive capability of the ship, and that giant cannon was still working.

I ordered the Immortal to fly low and towards the cannon, meanwhile I readied my staff, energy flowing through its handle towards the ornament on its tip, as the barge advanced, more energy was accumulated in the staff, I hope this works.

Gol D. Loota's ship

Gol D. Loota watched the battle around him, as he ordered his Boyz to continue firing at the Tin Man's forces, his ship and the surrounding ships were being attacked, the smaller ones were sunk, but the larger ones managed to fight.

The tin men mounted on the flying bikes were difficult to hit, they would fly between the bullets and rockets, take a few shots at the orks and then fly away, only to come back again and repeat the process.

The flying ships that were the real danger, they were slow but resistant, the ones carrying several tin men tried to approach to put their cargo on their ship, but the cannon fire kept them away, the second type of flying ship was the most dangerous.

It didn't carry any tin men, but had a gigantic and powerful cannon, just one shot turned the smaller ships into molten metal, Loota would not allow them to approach.

"Boss!"

Loota was interrupted by the shout of one of his boyz, the ork was on top of a mast, with a spyglass in his hand.

"What!" Loota demanded.

"Der's iz a tin man kom'n" The ork yelled as he pointed forward.

"Give me dat t'n!" Loota shouted to the ork, understanding the order, threw the spyglass to Loota.

Loota looked in the direction the ork pointed, and what he saw through the spyglass was a large tin man approaching in an airship, the tin man holding a strange staff with green lightning gathering at the end.

Many military leaders would feel uneasy at this sight, but Loota was an ork, the bigger the enemy, the better the fight, Loota smiled and began to order his boyz.

'`The bozz ov da tin men 'az decided to show up! We will give 'im our welcome! Ready da Kannons! Reload da supa-kannon!"

"Yes boss!" The orks screamed.

The orks ran frantically across the ship's deck, readying cannons and pointing them toward the head of the tin men. A group of orks reloaded the Supa-Kannon, the cannon was a modified artillery weapon, a large cannon with a long barrel, with a pierced muzzle to release gas from the shot, surrounding the front area of the cannon were metal plates to protect the team that managed it.

The group of orks placed a large artillery projectile on the back of the cannon, after closing the hatch, a second ork ran to the controls, the controls were simple, so simple that even an ork could use them with medium chances of killing all the their allies in the process, they were composed of two cranks and a button, the first crank made the cannon go up and down, the second made the cannon go left and right, the button fired the cannon.

"All set boss! We kan shoot down da tin man'z 'ouse!" The ork at the controls screamed.

"No! Change da target!" Loota screamed.

"Wot we gonna shoot, boss?" The ork asked.

"Da tin man!" Loota shouted as he pointed at the leader of the Tin Men.

"Right boss!" The ork at the controls responded as he turned the cannon's handles, bringing him parallel to the tin man.

"Well done, boys! 'Ere 'e komes, we'll show da tin man'z dat 'e shudn't 'ave messed wiv Gol D. Loota!"

"YES BOSS!"

All of the ship's frontal cannons were aimed at the tin man, guns of all sizes, mounted on the ships and carried by the orks, covered the deck, any other species would consider the amount of weapons an exaggeration, but for the orks it would never be enough. Loota watched the tin man through the spyglass, preparing to give the order to fire.

"Fire!" Loota screamed.

"WWWAAAGGGHHH!" The orks responded as they fired their weapons.

Bullets and artillery ripped through the storm, shells of all calibers flying in a hail of metal towards a single target, but that target would not be easy to hit.

The tin man's airship flew out of the way of the first volley of gunfire, flying to the left, the shells hit the water, but the orks kept firing, following the tin man, the shots hitting the water right behind, creating waves and explosions.

"Wot iz you doin' standin' vvae? Target da tin man! "Loota shouted to the ork who controlled the cannon.

The ork complied, turning the cannon's handles, moving it to the right, toward the tin man. The tin man quickly changed direction, this time going to the right, dodging more shots and projectiles, the ork that controlled the cannon moved the controls, making the cannon go to the left.

Even having to dodge, the tin man approached the ship, the lightning on his staff becoming more noticeable, the tin man changed direction again, facing the ship, and the ork manning the cannon had to move it again.

The tin man continued to advance, he was close to the ship, this time his aircraft tilted slightly to the sides, letting the projectiles pass straight through.

"Fire!" Lota shouted to the ork in the Supa-Kannon.

"Yes boss!" The ork screamed as he pressed the button.

Simultaneously, the tin man fired a large green beam towards the cannon, and then performed a sharp upward turn, his aircraft standing upright during the maneuver and shooting skyward.

The green bean entered the barrel of the cannon simultaneously, when the ork pressed the button, nothing happened. The ork was confused by this and pressed the button repeatedly, suddenly the cannon turned red, then orange, boiling steam came out of its interior, then…

BOOM!

With the Overlord

BOOM!

The cannon exploded in a ball of fire and metal, killing several orks and destroying part of the ship's defenses. As the orks ran in panic across the ship, I took the opportunity as the artillery rain stopped and ordered my troops to move closer.

I mutually ordered the Immortal to pilot the barge towards the ship, we descended and flew over the area where the cannon exploded, next to me, the Ghost Arks deployed their troops on the ship's deck, Warriors and Immortals, while firing its various Gauss Flayers.

As my units touched the deck, they fired on any orks that survived the blast, the screams of the orks being disintegrated echoed through the flames.

"Rahkikh, Thaszan, come with me." I ordered the Lychguard to my side.

"Yes, my lord!" The two answered simultaneously.

I ordered the Immortal to hover above the deck, Rahkikh, Thaszan and I jumped off the barge and walked through the destruction. Where was Warboss? I got my answer when a pile of metal shifted and with a roar of rage the Warboss appeared.

"We finally met." I said to the Warboss.

"Decided to show up tin man?!? Did yer got tired ov 'idin' like a koward?!?" The Warboss screamed as he got to his feet.

"I'm not a coward, I just fight smart, unlike you, but enough of that, we can spend the day exchanging insults, I don't think we've introduced ourselves. I am Akatosahk Ulthagakh, Necron Overlord."

"Hmph! I'm Gol D. Loota! Warbosz ov dis Warband! I will turn you into scrap metal fer sinkin' me ships!"

"CRRAAA! I will turn you into scrap metal fer sinkin' me ships!" The squig that landed on the Warboss shoulder repeated.

Gol D. Loota? Someone wasn't subtle with the reference. I cannot deny that I had a strange feeling when I saw the Overlord, I would like to fight him alone, a desire to face my enemy and show that I am the superior.

"WWWAAAGGGHHH!" Loota screamed as he pointed his gun at me and pulled the trigger.

DAKKA!

DAKKA!

DAKKA!

Rahkikh jumped in front of me with his shield raised, the shield harmlessly blocking all bullets.

"Finish him off!" Loota shouted, and with that order, several ork ran across the ship towards me, I gave the order for my troops to shoot, a shootout started on the deck of the ship, amidst the chaos I saw Loota entering a door on the ship. Where was he going? Orks don't tend to run away, which means Loota has a plan.

I'd like to pursue Loota, but first I have to deal with the orks in my path, which has me a little worried. Come on! Calm down! This is your first fight in this body, you have your troops and weapons ready! Just don't do anything stupid, fight like a true Overlord and don't die trying!

A horde of orks approached, I ordered my troops to fire, thinning some of their numbers. Now we'll see what I can do.

I pointed my Gauntlet of Fire at the orks, a wave of green flames consumed part of the crowd, I waved my hand sideways, burning even more orks, when enough time passed, I stopped the wave of flames from the gauntlet and passed through the burned orks, Rahkikh and Thaszan accompanying me.

The path to where Loota fled was full of orks, they came running at us, carrying all kinds of melee weapons, knives, swords, axes.

"Get out of our lord's way, green skins." Rahkikh said as he ran towards the crowd of orks.

Rahkikh slammed his shield into an ork's face, smashing its face and sending teeth flying in all directions, with fluidity Rahkikh slashed the top of the ork's head with his sword, a second ork came running in with a raised sword, when the ork brought his sword down towards Rahkikh, Rahkikh cut off the ork's arm, then slashed at his neck, the ork fell to the ground as he tried to close his wound.

A third ork tried to cut Rahkikh in the chest with an ax, Rahkikh blocked the blow with his shield, swinging the shield to the side, Rahkikh deflected the ork's blow, making him lose his balance, taking advantage of the opening, Rahkikh cut off both arms of the ork and plunged his sword into the ork's chin, the tip of the sword protruding from the top of the ork's head.

An ork came running and screaming from behind Rahkikh, spinning his body, Rahkikh slashed the ork from the top of the head to the stomach, almost splitting his body in two, from the right another ork appeared, Rahkikh delivered several quick cuts, slicing the ork bottom to top, a cut in the stomach, another in the chest and another in the face, the pieces of the ork fell to the floor.

Thaszan was doing well, he swung his War Scythe above his head and decapitated two orks with a single blow, running forward, Thaszan used his scythe as a jumping pole and jumped into the middle of a group of orks, while falling , Thaszan sliced an ork in two, the two halves falling to the ground in a fountain of blood.

Thaszan used the butt of his scythe to strike an ork in the stomach, the ork fell to the ground spitting blood, then Thaszan thrust his scythe forward, piercing an ork's chest, the tip of the scythe protruding from the other side, Thaszan swung his he went inside the ork, pointing the blade upwards and with a yank, Thaszan split the ork in two.

With a low blow, Thaszan cut off the legs of an ork, when the ork fell to the ground Thaszan stomped on its head, leaving a stain of blood and brains on the ground, a group of orks decided to attack Thaszan at once, Thaszan swung his scythe like a master, with fluid strokes the orks couldn't even get close, arms, legs and heads flying in all directions.

At this rate I won't have to fight, Thaszan and Rahkikh are slicing up all the orks on the way, I think it's better this way...

CRACK!

The floor beneath me cracked, and I saw something grabbing my leg, a large metallic claw, and before I could do anything, I was pulled into the darkness of the ship.

"My lord!" The last thing I saw was Rahkikh and Thaszan momentarily stopping their fight to look in my direction.

END OF THE CHAPTER