The Gretchin who had been lashed by Ironwhip was the first to open the metal crate beside him, his hands trembling. Inside lay a sleek Ember-I Gauss Rifle, gleaming with a faint blue light, and a lightweight Personal Energy Shield Generator.
He raised his head and saw the shock and fury mingling on Overseer Ironwhip's face. He saw Ironwhip raise his chainsaw whip again.
A few seconds earlier, he would have wet himself in terror.
But now, the words "Even the lowliest have dignity" echoed in his mind. An emotion he had never experienced before, called anger, erupted from his chest like a volcano.
He raised the gun.
"You... you dare?!" Ironwhip roared, bringing the snarling chainsaw whip down.
There was no deafening gunshot, only a soft hum. A blue beam of energy struck Ironwhip in an instant.
There was no explosion, no spray of flesh and blood. Starting at the point of impact, Ironwhip's body rapidly disintegrated in defiance of the laws of physics, annihilated into fundamental particles that dispersed into the air. The disbelief on his face froze forever in that instant.
The entire workshop fell deathly silent.
Then came a tidal wave of humming.
Thousands upon thousands of Gretchin slaves killed their overseers.
The same scene unfolded simultaneously on countless planets across the galaxy.
In the notorious slave market of Bonecrusher Alley, the Gretchin being auctioned suddenly rose up, using airdropped Gauss Weapons to disintegrate the Ork slave masters and their bodyguards in an instant.
Within a Waaagh! fleet on campaign, the Gretchin responsible for carrying shells to the guns suddenly pulled Gauss Rifles from airdropped crates and detonated the entire ammunition magazine, turning an Ork battleship into a burst of fireworks in space.
On every battlefield, the Ork Boyz discovered to their horror that the meek