Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Author: Zorlond
Title: Kron, Knight Errant
Part: Chapter 05
Summary: The Adventures of Kron, a powerful warrior in a universe of
technology and fantasy.
Keywords: Mg, Mdom, female-orc, ped, piv, oral, non-sexual viol, magic,
penis size





   Chapter 5

   "Wha..?" That was as far as Kron got before the orc girl, taking hold of
his wrist with her free hand, pulled her body upwards and kicked him in the
face.  The blow did no real damage, but it did startle him into letting go.
Landing on the floor on her feet, the girl hurried back a bit, hunched down
close to the floor, as if about to scurry about on all fours like a feral.
She paused there, looking up at Kron, and he looked at her.

   If the orc girl had been human, Kron would have guessed her to be
somewhere around nine or ten years of age.  Kron might have considered her
to be some strange-looking goblin, another greenskin race with close ties
to the orcs, but her pointed ears were nowhere near big enough, and her
teeth far too big.  Dark purple hair was pulled back into high twin tails,
held with leather bindings.  Her skin was a leaf hue of green, easily seen
around the brown leather of a brief halter vest and short shorts.  Her
chest had small breasts, not even handfuls, but perhaps just the start of
more.  She was barefoot, which Kron had already noticed from the footprint
on his face.  Although, truth be told, he had no idea how an orc girl would
be expected to dress.  Up until a few moments ago, the very idea of an orc
girl would have been anathema to him.  Every orc he'd ever seen, heard, or
even thought of had been the same massive, muscled, and quite masculine
creatures.  This...  this was a small, lean, and altogether not uncomely
female.

   A female who's hand just shot behind her back for an instant and
returned with a knife.

   She leaped forward, knife edge leading.  Reacting with Quicksilver
speed, Kron dropped his sword, both hands reaching forward to take hold of
both of her wrists, swinging around with her momentum to plant her, a bit
harder than intended, against the wall behind him, her feet dangling well
above the floor.  She struggled a bit, but as it became clear she couldn't
get either hand free, nor her legs up to kick him again, she settled down.
Looking at him, her red eyes met his, her jaw setting, lips closed save for
the outer pair of lower fangs.  Her nose twitched, she inhaled deep...  and
then she spoke.  "Ya smell o' war, klankah."

   Kron took her words, the first words he'd heard an orc speak beyond
violent threats or mindless roars, and after a moment, he responded.  "Let
go." He indicated the knife with a slight nod of his head.

   The girl glanced at it for a moment.  "Ya gonna kill me, 'ummie?"

   This made Kron stop.  He thought about it.  Thought about twisting her
wrist until she dropped the knife.  Thought of throwing her to the floor...
of drawing his pistol...  of taking...  aim...

   The thought made his insides churn.

   Orc or not, he knew he could not harm this young girl.  The very idea
was revolting.  Her gaze was level, unafraid, unintimidated.  She knew what
she asked, perhaps even expected it, but she would die as an orc, unafraid.
"No, I won't." Her eyes went wide, then a curious look crossed her face. 
She leaned forward a bit, sniffing again.

   "Ya smell o' war..." she muttered, as if the meaning should be obvious.
"Ya smell o' da Boss.  'E's dead, inn'e?" Kron simply nodded.  Taking this,
the girl relaxed her hand, knife slipping free to clatter on the floor. 
Her eyes took a different cast, and Kron felt one of her legs slipping
around his waist.  Not as some attack, no, this felt different.  With her
one leg, she pulled on him, tugging him closer as she leaned forward as
much as she could.  Her face came near his, then passed it to take a long,
slow sniff at his neck.  "If dat's so," she softly whispered, "Den you be
da new Boss."

   As Kron considered her words, he became keenly aware of two things.  Her
tiny, slim hips pressing against his armor, and the fact that it had been
well over a year since he'd had sex with a woman.  And her apparent young
age was no issue for him.  But...  a greenskin?  Yes, she was a pretty
girl, even with the two fangs sticking up from the corners of her mouth,
somehow small and feminine...  Yeah, right there.  An orc.  Feminine.  The
very notion spun his world around.  How could these green monsters, huge,
muscular killers known across the galaxy for their raging charges, axes
held high to seek blood of their foes...  be feminine..?

   Of course, there could be another angle to consider.

   Kron nudged her back against the wall again, mainly by pressing forward
with his body.  Locking eyes with her again, he stated up front, "You're
attempting to trick me, aren't you."

   She shook her head, meeting his accusing eyes, unflinching.  "It be da
orc way.  Da tuffest be da Boss.  Tuffest get da girl.  You killed da Boss,
you da tuffest." Her head tilted a little.  "Wot?  Ya don't want da girl?
Ya pole broke?"

   "Hardly," Kron muttered.  With a moment of thought, he let go of one of
the orc girl's wrists, and reached for his belt with one hand.  She set her
hand on his shoulder, watching his hand as he opened his armor, reached in,
and heaved out a tube of flesh that he lay upright against her body.  Kron
took a bit of satisfaction in seeing the girl's eyes go wide at the thick,
veiny mass of his cock, throbbing against her stomach as the head rose
upward, starting to pass her little boobies as it hardened.  If it had just
been a bit wider, the little orc girl might have hidden her whole torso
behind it.

   The girl muttered something Kron didn't catch, and then she let go of
his shoulder to try to wrap her hand around his dick, not even close to
making it halfway around.  As her hand stroked up and down, Kron's urges
came to the fore.  He released her other wrist, hands coming up under her
shoulders to hold her steady against the wall, hips thrusting to slide his
cock's length against her little body.  As he came to full hardness, the
girl took hold of his dick in both hands, leaning her head down to wrap her
lips around the cock head.  He could sense her sharp teeth, but she had no
interest in anything but to lick and suck, such a hot and wet mouth...

   Her mouth came free with a pop, and she said, "Need...  ta get dat
pole...  in me..." Her breath in short, open gasps, as he reached down to
losen her shorts.  Sliding them down her thighs, his hands returned to her
torso as she wiggled her legs and kicked the shorts away.  Her legs went
wide, and Kron was presented with a little, hairless orc slit.  Crouching
low, he brought his cock head down to her green pussy, and without
hesitation, stood up to push his cock into her.

   She grunted as her cunt lips spread, stretching wide over his cock, yet
giving way to his huge mass.  Her belly distended as his dick pressed
further inward, stretching tight but allowing deep entry until the end of
his cock was nearly inside her ribs.  Only then did he meet resistance. 
Looking into her face, Kron could only sense lust there.  She'd met his
pole and wanted it into her as far as it would go.  Leaning forward, Kron
pressed against her again before setting his hips to thrusting.

   He could feel her hot breath on his neck, hear her soft moans of
pleasure, and he could smell her scent, so different from any human woman
he'd been with.  More like spice than salt.  Against the wall, he fucked
her, her legs wrapped around him as tightly as her little girl's snatch
wrapped around his cock.  And then, he was coming.  Perhaps sooner than
expected, but no less intensely.  Human spunk shot deeply into orc pussy,
trying to shove ever deeper, squirting out around her nether lips as her
body quivered in response.

   As his load faded, Kron took her away from the wall, still impaled, and
set her down on the floor, fucking her anew as he did.  Leaning up on his
hands, he watched as her green stomach filled and emptied with each thrust
of his hungry rod, stretching inhumanly far to accept the sheer mass of
dick.  It almost looked as if she was repeatedly swelling with child over
and over again.  The image made Kron burst again, as she howled in lust at
the hot jizz pouring into her.  Each throb of cum could be seen in the
green skin of her belly, traveling up until it bulged it's way to the end,
spreading outwards at the last.  Human and orc cum, mixed in the bizarre
union, shot out of their joined sexes to splatter against the ground.

   Kron, some echo of his conscious mind still reeling from the scene
before him, got up, his dick draging out of the girl's tight cunt in a
slow, wet slurp, punctuated by her grunt as his cock head popped out
through her cunt lips, a gush of fuck juice following it.  Still rampant,
Kron stood there for a moment before the girl, eyes locked onto the slab of
masculine meat, got up as well, gripping and licking at his cock.  And
then, steeling herself, Kron saw the orc girl's jaw smoothly unhinge
itself, stretching her mouth open wider and wider, pulling his cockhead
into her mouth.  It slid down, deeper and further, her tongue sliding
around his dick, slathering it in saliva, her neck stretching to twice it's
normal width around him as his cockhead visibly passed down into her torso,
out of sight.  Her large, red eyes locked onto his, her little-girl face
stretched out so far around his huge cock, and Kron could feel almost his
entire massive member enveloped by this little orc.  As he took hold of her
twin tail hair, she moaned lustily around his cock and let him thrust her
against his crotch, fucking her drooling face relentlessly, hungry for that
load of thick, hot, human cum in her belly...

   It took him two hours to unleash a year's worth of backed-up spunk into
the little orc girl's holes, and she took every drop of it without
hesitation, and with much enthusiasm.  Well, up until she passed out.  Kron
stopped at that point, letting her lay on the ground face-down, cunt slowly
relaxing back to it's original state while her upraised hips twitched in
aftershock, little jets of fuck juice squirting with each shiver.  Her
belly was a little puffed out from all the cum he'd pumped into her from
both ends.  Far more gunk had spilled out of her, coating her entire face,
ass, hair, much of the floor, and a few walls in sexual slime.  Watching
the orc girl sleep, Kron tried to collect himself, and get his dick back in
his pants, thinking about what had just happened.

   He'd had sex with an orc.  Human.  Orc.  Sex.  It was nothing Kron had
ever heard of.  Everything he'd ever known about orcs, that any in the
Empire had known about orcs, was that they were violent, monstrous, almost
mindless in their pursuit of war.  Kron hadn't known an orc could even be a
child, or female.  Did the Knights know?  Did they care?  The war against
the greenskins was many thousands of years long, and spanned most of the
galaxy.  Untold billions had died to orc warbands.  Was it possible that
the Knights would...

   Would harm a child to end a war uncounted generations long...

   He had to leave.  Now.  He couldn't bring himself to hurt her, but he
could never stay, and she could never be seen by a Knight.  He would never
speak of her.  None would know.  The camp was gone, one survivor would not
matter.

   Kron composed himself, stowing away his dick, and straightening his
uniform.  He took up the plasma sword once again, and, with a single look
back at the dozing green-faced girl, mouth just slightly open, smiling
drool into a shallow lake of fuck sauce, cute little nose twitching at the
thick stench of sex as he watched...  and then Kron stepped out of the
building.

   "Ye havin' fun, mon?"

   The words cut through his thoughts like a plasma sword, and his body
reacted with Quicksilver speed, drawing his pistol and taking aim towards
the voice.

   Nine Empresses preserve him, it was another one.

   Not an orc girl.  No.  Girl, yes.  Orc, no.  The blue-green skin, the
pointed features...  It was a troll.  A troll girl.

   She was crouched down some distance away, watching him.  Her blue-black
hair, running down her back in multiple braids, contrasted her yellow eyes
nicely.  Little tusks only a few inches long spread outwards from the
corners of her mouth.  Light tank-top of dark green under a thicker leather
vest covered her torso, with knee-length shorts and bared feet below.  She
held a staff, a length of metal topped with a jawless orc skull and dangly
bits made with small gears, bullets, and bits of bone.  "If'n I wanted ta
hurt ye, mon, I woulda done it when ya were busy stuffin' Zarah, there."
The troll gestured with a two-fingered hand towards the building behind
Kron.

   Silently admitting the troll probably had a point, Kron relaxed his aim.
Besides, like the orc, he didn't really feel he could harm this girl.  As
she straightened up, the troll was perhaps a little under six feet, rather
small for a troll, and with the slim, lanky appearance of her species, with
no breasts to speak of yet, but her hips had a little bit of flare to them.
Perhaps she was even younger than the orc...  what did the troll just call
her...  Zarah?  In any case, Kron was, for the moment, in no rush to fuck
again.  Although this troll girl's hips were just the right shape to take
hold of and...  No.  "Then I shall depart in peace.  I have no issue with
you." He holstered his pistol, stepping back towards the overturned APC.

   "Goddit, Boss," Kron heard behind him, and he realized Zarah had woken
up, standing in the doorway of the building, holding the frame with one
hand while trying to steady her clearly wobbly feet.  She stepped towards
him, flood of mixed white fluids pouring down both legs, as she carefully
held her short shorts and stepped into them, dragging the leather upwards
to squelch wetly against her leaking pussy.  "Lead da way."

   Kron scowled at her.  "No." His voice, deep and implacable, commanded
her attention.  "I go alone.  I care not what you do, but it will not be
with me."

   Zarah blinked, taking a moment before saying, "But Boss..."

   "No," Kron repeated.  "I am not your Boss."

   That silenced her, her eyes clouded with confusion.  But only for a
moment.  "But I godda, Boss..."

   A hearty chuckle interrupted Kron's next attempt to correct her.  "Don'
boddah, 'ummie," the troll girl said.  "She's an orc.  She godda be wit'
her Boss.  And dat be you.  Well..." she paused to scratch at the side of
her face.  "Unless some odder mon kills ya.  Den he be da Boss." Blue-green
shoulders shrugged.  "It be da orc mind-work.  Even if ya run, she got ya
scent, and her scent all over ya.  She follow ya anywheres."

   Frowning at the apparently obstinate nature of orcs, Kron glared at the
troll.  "And what about you?  Are you going to insist on following me?"

   "Oh, ya not be my boss, mon," she told him, her voice taking on a level
tone.  "I got reason to be followin' ya, tho." With that, she closed her
eyes, leaning over to bob her head up and down.  Kron could hear her
humming softly.  After a few moments, she lifted her face...  to look at
him with completely blackened eyes.  "Greenskin unbred be brought to
battle-lust by da tuffest Boss around, and he shield da clan from darkness
unbound..." She closed her eyes again, and when they re-opened, her eyes
had turned back to yellow irises on white.  "Da last Boss t'ought it was
about him.  Bet dat was a surprise."

   The orc Boss' last expression flickered across Kron's mind.  Surprised,
indeed.  "Wait," Kron said.  "Darkness unbound?"

   A heavy footfall cut across the trio, and as they turned towards the
sound, they saw what had made it.  Heavy red armor, shoulder marked with a
pair of crossed black swords, three drops of red below them.  Another heavy
step, an arm rising towards them.  It was one of the Squires of Kron's
squad.  But he could immediately tell something was very wrong.  The
Squire's movements were jerky, sudden, and disordered.  Legs bent wrong,
only just keeping the armor upright.  And it held an orc rifle.

   "Seek sanctuary!" Kron shouted a second before the orc rifle began
firing.  Inaccurate at the best of times, the orc-designed weapon rattled
and spat wildly, the arm holding it kicking up and around with barely any
direction.  But as Kron raised his plasma sword to ready a charge, he felt
a blast of energy beside him, a swirling mass of orange light plowing
through the air and sand.  The fallen Squire, struck squarely by the
energy, was bowled over, covered by a cloud of dust.

   Glancing to the side, Kron saw the troll girl, brow set in furious
concentration, staff planted firmly in the ground at her feet.  The conical
trail of kicked up sand lead right to her.  Letting out a sigh, she looked
to Kron.  "We canna stay here."

   "What dark sorcery is this?" Kron demanded.

   "It be da darkness." Lifting her staff, she gestured to the cloud of
dust, within which could be seen the Squire's armor, once again slowly
lurching to it's feet.  "All da freshly dead be comin' back, to kill all
dat dey see!"

   "Nikti's roit!" Zarah shouted.  "Dis has been happenin' fer monfs!  Why
ya think we come so close to da Klankah base?  We'z runnin' outta boyz!"

   Kron felt his blood chill.  Darkness, undead, a force so great as to
overwhelm even the orc hordes...  He'd heard of this.  One nightmarish tale
told among many.  A low sound caught their attention.  Deep within the
kicked up sand cloud, movement could be seen.  More shapes, heaving,
lurching, some dragging useless limbs behind.  Dead orcs.

   Without thought, Kron acted.  "This way!  Now!" Kron pointed down a side
path between two buildings, and the three of them fled that way.  There was
no way Kron could fight the entire camp of undead orcs with one plasma
sword and a pistol.  They had to leave.  But the only real way out...  Was
back.

   Circling wide, Kron led the way, cutting through a pair of staggering
corpses as they tried to raise weapons.  He kept on running even as the
pieces tried to claw their way towards them.  "Where we runnin', Boss?"
Zarah asked as she snagged a fallen weapon, a machine pistol so large she
had to hold it like a rifle, casually kicking the dead orc stubbornly
holding onto the weapon in the face until it let go.

   As Zarah started taking shots at any of the dead trying to flank the
small group, Kron declared, "There's an APC nearby!  It can bear us to
sanctuary!"

   As they rounded one final corner, he heard Nikti speak, voice heavy with
sarcasm, "Ya mean da can on it's side?" The APC sat right where Kron had
left it, still up on two wheels.

   "Yes," Kron looked around.  They were alone, for now...  Distressingly
alone.  The corpses were gone.  All of them.  "Do what you did before,
Nikti." He gestured a push towards the APC.  "That pushing magic.  Force it
upright."

   Nikti shook her head quickly.  "I canna do dat, it be too big!  Mama was
a Bokor, but she dinna teach me dat much."

   Zarah, glancing the overturned vehicle up and down quickly.  "Get da can
on it's wheelies?  Goddit, Boss!" With that, she turned and ran.

   "Zarah?  Wait!" Kron watched as the little orc girl ran into a nearby
building.  As Kron began running after her, he heard a heavy thud.  Turning
towards it, he saw the massive arm rise overhead, then slam back down. 
Dead muscles flexed, and the enormous corpse scraped it's way forward.

   It was the orc Boss.  Eyes staring mindlessly towards Kron, one arm
slowly dragging it forward.

   It might have been bad comedy, if they weren't standing next to the only
thing that could get them out of the orc settlement.  The Boss' legs
clearly didn't work, it could be avoided easily.  Except that they couldn't
leave the spot they stood on.

   "Nikti," Kron intoned, as the plasma sword in his hands flared to life.
"Find shelter."

   "Dat not be possible, mon," she said.  A glance her way showed that the
exit behind them was now full of the staggering fallen.

   A screeching sound drew their attention, a door grinding it's way open,
sparks spraying from it's edges.  Through the door came a small greenskin,
dragging a metal cable by it's hooked end.  "Whatcha' waitin' for!  Daka
dem!  I'h get da can up roit!" Zarah heaved the cable across the space
towards the APC.

   Smiling to himself, Kron readied his sword, then rushed forward towards
the dead Boss.  Behind him, he heard Nikti's blast heading into the zombie
herd.  With the flanks covered, Kron focused on his target, turning his run
into a diving roll as the massive undead swatted at him, crushing the wall
of a nearby building.  Cutting and thrusting, Kron struck at the armored
head.  His blows deflected by the heavy helmet, Kron lept backwards,
enhanced legs clearing the orc's arm as it made another clumsy grab for
him.

   Zarah reached the APC and clambered up onto it, jumping clear down the
other side before planting the hook.  Running back into the building where
the cable trailed, the sounds of machinery heaved to ugly life, a cloud of
black smoke vomiting out of several roof pipes.  The cable pulled taut,
then the APC slowly began to be forced back onto it's wheels.  From within
the building, one could hear a cry of "Go fastah, ya git!" preceeding
several metallic clanks.  More smoke belched forth, and the cable pulled
harder.

   Nikti fired another blast into the crowding horde, crashing them into
each other and into a big pileup.  But each time she did, they would slowly
drag themselves back up.  Stepping back, the young troll glanced around,
muttering to herself.  "...  not workin'.  I know it not be workin'..."
Looking down another thin path between buildings, she sent another violent
swirl down it, kicking the few zombies trying to squeeze through out like
shot from a cannon.  "...  Dis be all we got.  No, Bla'gten, we not be
runnin' for da hills.  I told ya dis be da way.  I told...  Stop!" Slamming
her staff down into the ground, she twisted it quickly to stand face to
face with the skull on it's top.  Jabbing a finger towards the naked bone,
she declared, "I not be havin' dis argument again!  We do dis my way!  You
do as I say, Bla'gten.  Now get back ta work!" Spinning the skull back
around again, she flexed her will, and magic thundered into the undead.

   When the thud of wheels hitting the ground sounded behind Kron, he began
backing away from the undead Boss.  Bearing many more fresh cuts, now, the
damned corpse was still trying to kill him.  But he had only needed to keep
it busy and away.  Making one last swing that lopped off reaching
fingertips, Kron turned and ran for the APC, which was now slowly being
dragged across the open ground.  "Zarah!  Nikti!  Get inside, now!"

   Zarah came backwards out of the building, machine pistol in both hands,
unloading back into the building.  From within could be heard more of the
undead, almost drowned out by the still-running machinery inside.  With a
last burst of fire, Zarah ran for the APC, yanking the side hatch open
before jumping in, Nikti right behind her.  Not pausing his run, Kron swung
his burning sword, snapping the metal cable instantly, sending it snaking
into the building to whip and hack at the now-emerging undead.

   Climbing into the APC's driver seat, Kron quickly ran through the
ignition rite.  The engine roared to life, and as a massive arm rose before
them, he gunned it.  Tires spinning in reverse, the APC pulled back in time
to miss the dead Boss' final grab for it.  Shifting back into forwards,
Kron turned the APC and plowed through to the exit, orc corpses ground
under wheels and flying overhead.

   Inside, a thick-fingered hand jabbed at a console thick with controls,
lights, and screens of text, while a soft mutter overlaid each press of
button or control, a soft prayer to the machine spirit, asking for it's aid
in contacting a distant mind.  The rite complete, that thick hand grabbed
up a hand mike and held it close to a square jaw.  "Ingvuss base,
enlighten! Ingvuss base!"

   "The Vastness is coming!"

   Endless blackness.  A roiling storm of raw death.  The locus of billions
of screaming souls.  The Vastness was like unto a hole in space, bigger
than planets, a hole that drained anything it touched.  The signs of it's
approach could be subtle.  Maddened animals.  Sudden panic at nothing.  Odd
shapes seen in the corner of the eyes.  But it all lead to the dead rising
from the graves.  Initially, only the freshly dead.  But when the Vastness
arrived, even the oldest bones would claw their way upright.

   Orjanus had not seen a day of peace in thousands of years.  The untold
buildup of the dead was incalculable.  And the Vastness would raise them
all.  From the lowest orc to the mightiest of Knights.  All raised to kill
the living.

   Ahead of them, a gash in the earth had just given birth to a massive
clawed limb, easily as big as their entire vehicle.  Unlike the skeletons
surrounding the fleeing APC, this limb had flesh attached.  Ragged,
rotting, torn flesh that flexed and pulled.  Rising up out of the ravine,
drooping from multiple disconnected muscles, a long and sinuous neck
struggled to lift a triangular head.  Dislocated jaw sagging, one eye orbit
crushed to uselessness, the stinking head turned to glare at the oncoming
vehicle, wings of tattered flaps rising overhead.  In one heartbeat, the
rotten dragon corpse, some monstrous evil long since vanquished, lurched
it's head forward and breathed, a blackened sickness that seemed to coil
like fire and flow like oil, coming straight at them...

   Kron yanked on the control yoke, tires screaming as the vehicle tore
through a tight turn.  The black breath barely missed, tendrils licking at
the surface of the vehicle, thin strips of suddenly-appearing rust curling
in their wake.  Kron turned again, the APC diving behind a pillar of rock
as the undead dragon turned it's head around, black breath still flowing.
The rock pillar took the brunt of the blast, crumbling to gravel under the
dead energies.  Engine still roaring, Kron surged out of range of the
dragon, but even as he did, he heard Zarah call out.  "Boss, dat dead
draggie's followin' us!"

   Behind them, torn wings stretched to latch onto the air, heaving the
entire rotting mass up into the sky.  Impossibly, the ragged thing turned
in a languid, controlled flight to come right in behind the fleeing APC. 
The turret turned, unabated fire striking the dead flesh in an endless
barrage.  "I tink it's only getting' maddah, Boss!  We need more daka!"

   Grabbing hold of the hand mike, Kron did his best to steer one-handed
through the hordes of rising dead still all around while seeking any brief
shelter from the gaze of flying death behind him.  "Ingvuss base!  Airborne
monstrosity is approaching!  Vector six, three, nine!  We call for
immediate intervention!"

   Around the chaotic battle calls coming over the coms, Kron could hear
one clear voice call out, "Six, three, nine!  Intervention engaging!"

   In the distance, Kron could see smoke trails, three of them, quickly
rising from the horizon before ever so slowly growing larger and nearer. 
The APC pulled into a clearing, no cover in sight, the dragon opened it's
rotting maw, blackness curling around naked fangs, preparing to rush down
on the exposed target.  Then the intervention arrived.  Three missiles,
trails twining behind them, screamed through the air to slam directly into
the zombie dragon, exploding in a massive orange fireball.  Obscured from
vision, Kron briefly wondered at the fate of the foul thing.  But only
until he could see the huge mass falling, twisting in the air before
slamming into the ground.

   Wasting no time, Kron kept the APC running, as Nikti once again gave her
cryptic instructions on the safest route, while Zarah blazed a path ahead
with twin chainguns.  If the dead dragon was still moving, it was not in
their direction, and Kron muttered a prayer of thanks to the Nine for that
small mercy.  Winding across the desert, Ingvuss base finally came into
view, a sprawling mass of towering fortifications, weapon emplacements
firing endlessly as it was assaulted from all directions.  But, even as the
battle raged, Kron could see that the day was being lost.  The undead were
rising in massive waves, surging forward endlessly.  Knights would fight on
to their last breath in the name of the Empresses, but every Knight that
breathed his last became a new enemy, slaying his fellow Knights with not a
single thought.

   As the APC smashed through a crowd of the dead rushing through torn-open
gates, the coms gave a loud crackle, and all other battle chatter was
silenced.  The voice that then spoke, gravely and dark, was that of the
High Paladin of the Sanguine Blades.  "All forces, enlighten.  Orjanus has
been lost.  Seek sanctuary aboard the fleet in orbit, if you can.  Our
engines are powering up for a fast warp.  If you cannot reach the fleet in
time...  May the Nine Empresses have mercy upon your soul."

   Without a second thought, Kron turned the APC to head towards the air
bays.  If the High Paladin had ordered a fight to the last, Kron would not
have hesitated.  But with the order to retreat, he showed equal lack of
hesitation in following that directive.  Ahead, he could see transports
roaring out of the bays at full throttle, wave after wave of them.  The APC
made one last turn, then braked hard to come to a hissing halt near a
still-landed transport.  Kron slammed the hatch of the APC open and climbed
free, but his eyes turned towards the rear of the bays, to see a raging war
within, Sanguine Blade against Sanguine Blade.  No more lurching and
disordered, the dead were growing in power as the Vastness approached,
weapons wielded with all the strength and skill that they had in life, with
the utter ruthlessness of the cold dead, and their numbers were growing as
more living Knights were sent into death's domain.

   Rushing up to the open side of the transport, the thunder of approaching
fleshless abominations rising behind, Kron yelled, "Prepare for flight! 
Now!" He heard the engines stirring quickly to life as the pilot worked the
controls furiously, alone, his co-pilot nowhere to be seen.  Kron quickly
grabbed Zarah under her arms to heave her up into the transport, Nikti
right behind her, before Kron climbed in as well, slamming the doors shut
just as the claws of a rushing undead skeleton tried to reach for him. 
Engines roaring now, the transport screamed down the runway before pulling
up into the air.

   Behind them, the defenses of the base, still firing at the dead surging
in all directions, seemed to pause.  Silent for a few moments, the weapons
then returned to activity.  With a new purpose.

   Kron's transport banked hard as bullets tore through the air around it.
Ahead, he could see the trails of missiles ripping through the air to blow
other transports out of the sky.  After the first barrage of fire, the
base's weapons were joined by a new enemy.  Through a port, Kron could see
transports assaulted by black-winged horrors, naked bone and raven-dark
feathers, pushed to speed by unholy magics.  Latching on with hook and
claw, the horrors tore through any opening they could find or rend, and
transports spun out of control, into death spirals towards the planet below
again.

   "We gotta go fastah!" Zarah shouted towards the pilot.

   The words seemed to make the pilot jerk upright, as if something had
just taken hold of his spine.  Turning his head sharply, the pilot looked
through his darkened visor into the interior bay.  "What in Hades' name
is..?"

   His disbelieving words cut out as window shattered next to him.  Kron
saw a single boney hook take hold of the pilot's neck, and in the next
moment the pilot was gone, dragged screaming out to the terrors being
unleashed below.  Surging forward, Kron rammed the point of his plasma
sword into the fanged face outside the window.  When it disappeared, he
took position in the pilot's position to take hold of the yoke and try to
steady the craft.

   Watching for a moment, Nikti asked, "Kron, ya know how to fly?"

   Gritting his teeth, he answered carefully.  "Tranport rites are reserved
for Squires..."

   "Roit, one side!" Pushing up into the cockpit, Zarah quickly grabbed the
co-pilot's control yoke, her small frame looking very strange among the
much larger cockpit controls.  Holding herself steady with one hand on the
yoke, Zarah started flicking controls around her.  "Like I said, we gotta
go FASTAH!"

   Kron felt the force of the thrust slam him back into the wall close
behind him.  In the main bay, Nikti's feet left the floor for a brief
moment, a tight hold on a wall handle keeping her from flying back into the
depths of the craft.  The transport shuddered and quaked around them as the
engines overloaded, the transport ramming through the atmosphere faster
than even the horrors could fly.  They passed the tattered remains of the
mass exodus, and into the darkness of space, now made even darker as more
and more stars vanished from view.  The Vastness was closing in fast.

   Ahead, the fleet was still in orbit.  But it was faring little better
than the base below.  From a distance, something barely seen was moving
across the deep of space, coiling and twisting as the ships fired upon it,
streaks of condensed plasma lending brief shape to the darkness.  Escorts
suddenly diverted under the dark touch, as if caught in an ethereal current
they could not fight.  Ship slammed into ship as formations disintegrated,
thick metal buckling under the titanic masses colliding.

   Kron looked over the scene quickly.  They needed to land on a ship
before that ship entered warp, and yet one that was not about to meet a
grim fate from whatever it was attacking the fleet.  Deciding, Kron pointed
to a ship near the edge of the fleet.  "There!  Bring us aboard that
vessel!" It was a smaller ship of the line, a light cruiser, it's guns
quiet, likely trying to reroute more power to the engines for a faster
departure.

   Zarah nodded and bent the control yoke to her will.  Panels blaring
alarms from overstressed parts, but she ignored them, the red lights
flickering across the concentration on her face.  As the small landing bay
opened it's doors for them, a shuddering explosion spoke of an engine
driven far past it's abilities.  The transport pulled off course, but Zarah
pulled hard on the yoke, Kron trying to help by mimicking her, and between
them the transport weaved an unsteady path right into the bay.

   Metal struck floor in a screech of machine pain, once, and again, the
transport hurtling across the bay before slamming into the floor in a comet
of fire, the remaining engines reversing to try to slow down before a
tangle of wires shot out of floor and ceiling, wrapping around the
transport to bring it to a grinding halt just short of the far wall. 
Behind them, the bay doors rattled their way closed again.  As the air
sanctifiers activated and restored atmosphere to the bay, Kron forced an
unresponsive door open on the transport.  Stepping out of the craft, he set
a hand on the hull of the battered and tangled transport, softly saying,
"Rest now, good servant.  Ye have borne us to safety, and we thank ye for
your sacrifice."

   As the two greenskin girls hopped down out of the transport beside Kron,
they looked around.  "Where's da odder klankahs?" Zarah asked.

   "Dis not be good juju," Nikti muttered, peering into the depths of the
landing bay, drawing Kron's attention as well.  Many of the lights seemed
to be out.  Not uncommon of vessels that see frequent battle, but it did
seem oddly dark to Kron.

   A bit of movement drew Kron's attention.  "There.  Stay behind me, stay
quiet." Stepping forward, Kron spoke up to the approaching figure.  "Yeoman
Kron, reporting for sacred duty..."

   "Kron," Nikti's voice cut in.  "Dat not be no klanker!"

   Pale as salt, shining with eerie glow, dressed in tattered rags that
fluttered in an unfelt breeze, the fleshless face of the specter opened
it's mouth and screamed.  Clawing across his very soul, the sound forced
Kron back a step, before he set his feet.  Gritting his teeth, Kron lit his
sword in a blaze of fury, taking a step forward, then another, momentum
building into a run against the unholy gale.  Yet even as he approached,
the specter screamed, unmoving, unending...  Until with a two-handed hack,
plasma carved a path right down the center of that dead skull.  The specter
faded away, and the scream faded with it.

   Kron flexed his jaw, trying to get his ears to pop again.  "The ship has
been boarded." The ship's guns had been silent.  But it was clearly not
because it was trying to get into warp.  It was silent because the crew had
been killed.  They had been let aboard by the undead, hoping to savor a
close-in kill.  "We need to get to the control bridge, if any survive, they
would seek sanctuary there."

   "Roit, Boss," declared Zarah.  And with that, the odd trio ran through
the ship, footsteps echoing down halls bare of life.  No undead crew barred
their way, no fresh zombies rose to attack.  All was deathly silent as a
tomb, save for the ringing of Kron's boots on metal floors.  When they
finally reached the door to the bridge, they finally met a barrier.

   Kron grunted as the control panel next to the door blared at him.  "I do
not know the proper rites for this door." Turning to the door itself, he
attempted to wedge the metal core of the plasma sword in between the
central crack.

   "Dis da only way in?" Zarah asked.  When Kron responded in the
affirmative, his attention on the door, Zarah said, "Time for da orc
lockpick, den." With nothing more, Zarah lifted her assault pistol and
blasted the control panel with a long burst.  Reaching into the now-exposed
guts of the machine, she pursed her lips, looking skyward as she felt
around inside.  A brief spark of energy flared, and the doors suddenly shot
open.

   What they saw was the stuff of nightmares.  The ship's crew, what
remained of their corpses, desiccated and gaunt, turning to stare with
empty eye sockets, mouths open and slack, incessantly moaning in endless
hunger.  Between them floated darkened clouds of miasma, only just
suggesting the shape of fanged and horned skulls floating above long, cruel
talons.  One dark wraith floated above the rest and howled, a signal for
all the rest to attack.  Kron raised his blazing plasma sword, ready for
his last battle, but behind him he heard soft chanting, followed by the
ringing sound of staff striking floor.

   Spherical light blasted past Kron, and towards the dead masses.  To a
one, they recoiled, stepping back, but staying in arm's reach as the wall
settled.  Now and again, dead hands reached to touch the wall, only to
recoil at the energies that grounded into them.  Kron glanced behind him,
to see Nikti bobbing her head up and down, chanting all the while, the
skull on her staff glowing with intense light.  Deciding, he shouted, "Push
forward!"

   Plasma sword swung and hacked, the blade slipping past the edge of the
field to cut and burn.  Orc pistol rattled, ignored by the wraiths, but
solid bullets proving effective against the gaunts below them.  Slowly, the
bubble of light pushed forward, wrapping over and around any dead unable to
get out of the way, their bodies bursting into flames that consumed them
whole, leaving nothing but ash.

   Inch by inch, step by step, they forced their way onto the bridge. 
"There!  Head there!" Kron directed, and Nikti changed her course, up steps
to the pilot's station.  Furious, the wraiths redoubled their attacks, and
Nikti grunted as more energy was taken from her shield.  Kron swung high,
trying to force the wraiths back, but they simply drifted out of reach
above them before striking again.  But the dead could not stop their march.
As the sphere wrapped around the pilot's station, Kron stepped up to it to
look it over.  But it's controls and displays were an utter mystery to him.
"Zarah, do you recognize any of this?"

   Pausing her firing, Zarah took a quick look.  "Uh...  Yah.  Dose are
controls...  Dunno what dey do, tho'."

   Kron grunted in frustration.  "Try to figure out how to get us into
warp. We cannot remain in this space." As Zarah began studying the panel,
Kron looked back, and saw Nikti sinking to one knee, her teeth grinding
from the strain.  Rushing back to her, Kron set a firm hand on her back,
helping her back to her feet.  "Stand strong, Nikti." Her blackened eyes
met his as she set an unsteady foot down.  He stared hard into those alien
eyes, declaring, "If this is to be our end, then let it be known we fought
to the last against the impossible, side by side."

   Her eyes held his for a bit, seeing the hard core of will in his face.
Then, her own face taking a determined look, she nodded, then resumed her
chant, before slamming her staff against the floor once more.  Light
flared, and the bubble suddenly grew a pace, setting several wraiths ablaze
as they suddenly found themselves inside the barrier.

   On the main display, dominating the center of the room, a floating
hologram taller than a Knight and twice as wide, of the planet and the
ships around it, a hazy indicator could only suggest at the location of the
approaching Vastness.  A brief flare of light, and a ship disappeared off
of the edge of the display, a clear sign of it going into warp.  Then
another, and more.  Kron knew that in moments, the surviving fleet would
escape, and they would be alone against the entire attention of the
Vastness.  "Boss, I can' figger dis out!  It's not listenin' to me!  Should
I lockpick it?"

   "No!" Kron called out, halting Zarah's raising weapon.  Glancing back,
he saw the light barrier had expanded past the Captain's throne.  Rushing
back to the grand seat, Kron looked at the lit panels built into each arm.
Sitting down in the throne, Kron tried to deduce the controls...  And
finally decided.  His hands hovered back and forth across the controls, a
prayer drifting from his lips, a desperate prayer, the most desperate of
beseeches to the Empress of Misfortune, emptying his mind, letting his
hands drift upon the whims of barely felt eddies, the prayer ending just as
his hands lowered onto the panel.

   Controls lit up across the pilot's station, and across the bridge
entire. Something in the deep bowels of the ship awoke, and all could feel
the ship come to life.  Zarah, turning back to the station, started jabbing
controls wildly.  The ship shook and heaved as commands were executed with
only the barest of guesses, the bow yanking around wildly as thrusters
fired...

   Around them, everything bent and twisted, reality itself being wrung as
the engines battered their way into warp.  The bridge curled back into view
as warp was achieved, a central display showing Orjanus rapidly vanishing
behind them as the ship sped away.  And then the small ship was surrounded
on all sides by curling and twisting lines.  As they touched the little
ship in the hologram, Kron felt the entire vessel around him quake.  "Drop
out of warp now!" The little ship jerked in the display as a tangle of
twisted lines hit it, and the vessel bucked hard under their feet.

   Zarah was already furiously trying to work the controls, but it took
several more hits before she could guess the sequence.  The quakes stopped,
and the bridge wrenched around again, as the engines brought the ship back
into normal space.  With a heaving shudder, the stars returned on the
display, and the ship ground to a halt.

   All was quiet.

   Nikti let the shield drop, slowly sagging tiredly down onto her butt, as
around them on the bridge was nothing but a few stray bits of ash.  No
corpses, no wraiths.  Without the proximity of the Vastness, the dead could
not hold their existence on this plane.  Kron stood from the Captain's
throne, stepping forward towards the main display.  He could hear Zarah
whooping with jubilation, the rush of escape driving her to jump and pump
her fists in the air.  But Kron could only stare at the display. 
Eventually, Zarah noticed Kron sweeping past her, and her gaze was drawn to
the hologram ship, floating among the stars.  "Hey, Boss," Zarah asked. 
"Where are we?"

   Nikti answered for him.  "We be nowhere..."



   *****

   This is a work of fiction, if that wasn't clear enough.  Nothing I write
about has ever or will ever occour in reality.  Any resemblence characters
may have to real people is entirely coincidental and unintentional.  And I
can not and will not condone real sexual activity involving minors.

   I do however, condone positive feedback, and encourage it.  :)

   If you feel like sending me some feedback, you can reach me at zorlond
AT yahoo DOT com.