Ghana Campaign

Chuck looked at the appointment letter in his hands with satisfaction. The Governor clearly understood that local talent like him was still the most reliable. What did his quarrel with Pex matter? System Command had appointed him a general of the Defense Force all the same.

His task was to take full responsibility for military deployments across Euronia III's Southern Hemisphere and wipe out the green monsters that had appeared as quickly as possible.

Brimming with confidence, Chuck drew up no plans. He immediately ordered the Planetary Defense Force units near Ghana to assemble and march on the city to destroy the Orks.

As for Pex taking the Expeditionary Force to Euronia IV, Chuck could not have cared less. In fact, he hoped the System Commander would die fighting on that gray, dreary planet.

As it turned out, Chuck might have been a good staff officer, but armchair strategy and actual command were two very different things.

Chuck's command was inefficient. By the time the regular troops he had ordered to assemble reached Ghana, Iron Claw had already left with his spoils.

All he had left behind were a devastated city center, vast quantities of blood and corpses, and a few Snotlings and Ork Boyz still reveling, hopping about amid the ruins.

The sight of the Orks' slaughter enraged Chuck, and he immediately ordered his troops to attack the green monsters in the city.

Under their officers' direction, the soldiers formed up for battle and entered the city along several main roads, led by tanks and armored vehicles, ready to begin clearing out the green monsters.

At first, the troops advanced smoothly. Scattered Ork Boyz were no match for armored firepower, let alone the stupid Snotlings that only knew how to follow the mob. The soldiers simply used them for target practice with their Lasguns.

Seeing how easily the green monsters fell, Chuck immediately sent Governor Cornwall a message. "Under my command, the Planetary Defense Force is sweeping aside all resistance, annihilating vast numbers of green monsters. I am ordering the troops to accelerate their advance, eliminate the Xenos in Ghana as quickly as possible, and save the people of the Imperium."

When he sent the message, Chuck was aboard a Valkyrie Transport. This specially built Valkyrie Transport was larger and more heavily protected, with enough room inside to house a Mobile Command Room.

Seated in the center of the command room, Chuck watched the combat footage transmitted by the frontline soldiers with satisfaction, thoroughly pleased with himself. He could not understand why Pex had been so cautious about these stupid green monsters.

In the footage, Ork Boyz charged out of the ruins with axes raised, only to be riddled with shots from Las Weapons. They posed no threat at all. Some soldiers even cut off Ork heads and hung them on their Chimera Transports as trophies.

Judging by the fighting, the Orks were nothing more than a band of savages. They could bully unarmed civilians, but against the Imperium's tide of steel, they had no chance whatsoever.

As for Pex's stories, he had probably told so many for one reason alone: to gain control over more troops. Once Chuck led his army to wipe out the Orks, they would see whether the System Commander could still hold his head high.

"Fifth Squad and Sixth Squad are under attack by Orks!" The communications officer's voice interrupted Chuck's fantasies.

"What are you panicking for? It's a good thing those savages are coming to their deaths. It saves us digging them out of every ruin," Chuck said dismissively.

"Tenth Squad requesting reinforcements! We're surrounded by Orks! They're everywhere!"

Soon, reports of trouble came in from every direction, all of them urgent pleas for reinforcements.

"What's going on?" Chuck's expression changed rapidly as he saw the red dots multiplying on the radar. Those Ork savages seemed to be converging from every corner of the city!

"Why are there so many?! Aren't these Ork savages afraid to die?" Combat footage from Tenth Squad came through. Chuck watched Orks wielding stone axes charge relentlessly into the web of fire. When the front rank fell, the rank behind took its place. When that rank fell, the next charged forward.

The Ork Boyz bridged the battle line with their lives, closing the distance until their charge was only two or three breaths away. One, two, three-more and more Ork Boyz broke through the storm of fire and brought their axes down on the human soldiers' heads.

Once the fighting reached close quarters, the Planetary Defense Force was helpless. All that awaited them were Ork tusks, battle-axes, and slaughter.

Before long, Tenth Squad was swallowed by the Orks. Severed limbs lay scattered across the ground, and bright blood flowed in crimson rivers.

The camera feeding the screen fell to the ground, and a splash of blood turned half the display red. Just as everyone was about to look away, the camera moved again, and a vivid green Ork face appeared in the frame.

"Have a look. What's this?" one Ork asked another.

"Uh, lemme see." The second Ork took the camera. "Dunno, but I've seen this shiny round bit before. Mekboys wear 'em on their heads all the time."

"Mekboys! They've got loads of loot!" The first Ork snatched the camera back, smashed it, and took out the lens. "Wonder how many teef I can get for it."

With that, the first Ork carefully wiped the lens clean and tucked it against his chest.

After watching the whole exchange, Chuck felt all the blood in his body rush to his head. A band of savages who knew only how to wield stone axes had actually destroyed the powerful human troops under his command!

It was not just Tenth Squad. In barely half an hour, ten of the fifty squads that had entered the city were lost, all destroyed in the same way-overwhelmed by the green tide, at a complete loss.

The Orks suffered even greater losses during their attacks, but they did not care in the slightest. Their laughter and cries of "Waaagh!" rang through the entire city, as though they were indulging in a wild celebration rather than a brutal war.

Having wiped out a considerable number of Garrison Force troops, the Ork Boyz had also captured some human weapons and equipment.

At first, the Ork Boyz did not understand what these things were or how to use them. But when a mob of Boyz gathered to puzzle it out, the talents in their blood began to awaken.

Some could make repairs as soon as they picked up a wrench; others could shoot as soon as they picked up a gun. An Ork who had just become a Mekboy tinkered briefly with a wrecked Chimera Transport, then gave it a kick, and it could run again.

Soon, the remaining forty Defense Force squads found themselves in even greater trouble. The Orks were no longer mindlessly charging with stone axes.

Mixed into the green tide were gun-firing Slugga Boyz, grenade-throwing Bomm Boyz, Speed Freeks driving Chimera Transports modified by the Orks... and other new troop types with distinctly Orkish characteristics.

The Garrison Force's equipment advantage was being eroded, further shaking the human soldiers' morale. Some squads began disobeying orders and abandoning their positions without permission.

For a human army whose junior officer corps was not yet fully established, facing such ferocious Xenos was simply too much.