Rottooth Boss wanted to swear. Unable to contain himself, he stomped a Gretchin to death as it tidied the damaged command room and cleared away Tyranid limbs.
The Tyranids were far too underhanded. They had raided his Euronia II and ambushed his fleet, leaving him at a disadvantage. He had originally planned to cripple their fleet within ten days, then go to reinforce Euronia II.
As things stood, the Tyranids had already forced him onto the back foot. Viewed pessimistically, he was going to lose Euronia II.
Seen from above, the battlefield looked like this: Rottooth Boss's three Ork space fortresses formed an inverted triangle, positioned to support one another and provide overlapping fields of fire.
The Ork Pirates' fleet provided long-range fire from behind the space fortresses. Numerous space mines had also been laid between the three fortresses to hamper the Tyranids' attacks on them.
Of the three space fortresses, the largest and strongest was the one at the rear point of the inverted triangle, where Rottooth Boss was stationed. It was also under the least pressure.
Of the two flanking space fortresses, the one on the left was under the heaviest pressure. Tyranid bio-ships had almost completely covered it. Hordes of Warrior Bugs leaped down from the bio-ships. Some were charred by high-voltage electricity on the ground the moment they landed, or shredded by shoota rounds.
Yet more Tyranid Warrior Bugs poured down, outnumbering even the bullets. They advanced over the corpses of their own kind, flooding into the fortress and fighting the Orks defending it.
The Tyranids' main offensive was concentrated on the left flank. There were so many of them that even after swarming over the left-hand fortress, they kept advancing, passing it to collide with the Ork fleet behind it and become locked in combat.