Steel Rain 2

"Company L, proceed to sector 23. I repeat, Company L, proceed to sector 23."

"Command, this is Company L. Orders acknowledged." Lieutenant Honda Ishirou clicked off the vox and nodded at his driver. "Ushida, you heard them. Let's move."

Ushida said nothing as he kicked the Leman Russ into gear. Outside, two other Leman Russ Executioner tanks and a single Leman Russ Annihilator fell into formation, sandwiching the ancient Leman Russ Executioner, Solar Fury. Honda had been placed in command of the old girl six years ago, after Lieutenant Suzuki and his crew was immolated by an enemy Vanquisher's shell. Solar Fury had survived, but it took the Tech-priests of Draconis IV several months to put her back in fighting shape again.

Across from Company L, thousands of Leman Russ tanks moved out in thunderous fully, spilling out of the gates of Fortress Gammicon. The Draconian Armored Defenders were one of the few Astra Militarum regiments capable of fielding entire squadrons of Leman Russ Executioner tanks, an ancient pattern few forge worlds are able to produce. Their close ties with the forge world of Draconis IV had paid off, the Draconian priesthood having been able to procure STCs and plasma technology from the revered Ryza. Obsessed with plasma, the Adeptus Mechanicus priesthood had manufactured countless Leman Russ Executioner tanks not just for the Draconian Imperial Guard, but for Astra Militarum regiments across several sectors.

"Heretic Astartes, huh..."

The gunner, Gunzou, leaned back in his seat and grumbled as he stared blankly at the targeting auspex. Shaking his head, he clenched his fists reflexively over the trigger of the plasma executioner cannon.

"Does command really think we can win this?"

Honda sent him a sharp glare. "Not like we have a choice. If we falter here, the Iron Warriors will have access to an entire forge world. They'll be able to use the manufactorums and materiel here to launch invasions of the entire sector."

"Sir, do you really believe that?" Gunzou asked dryly. "That the Iron Warriors are here for the manufactorums and war machines."

"That's what the higher-ups said," Honda replied tightly. "What else can they be here for?"

That was the question on everyone's minds. The answer had seemed obvious at first, yet it continued to linger, especially when the Iron Warriors moved out.

"Pardon me, sir, but you know as well as I do that the higher-ups are spouting bull." Gunzou exhaled wearily as he thumped his hands against his console. "If the Iron Warriors are really after the forge world's manufactorums and production facilities, why aren't they headed in the opposite direction? Why are they attacking Fortress Gammicon?"

And that was why the question lingered in their minds. From the Iron Warrior's position in Mount Panolpy, they could launch an attack on the forges and mines on the south. Yet, they chose to move north and launched an assault on Fortress Gammicon. Honda was certain that the Skitarii garrison, which was the only significant military installation that stood between Mount Panolpy and the forges, wasn't what deterred the Iron Warriors. No, they were after something else.

Command probably knew that as well, but without knowing the answer, they arrived at the next most viable conclusion and fed their men an incredibly thin reasoning. Not that the men were buying it. They might be Guardsmen, but they weren't stupid.

"Enemy contact!" Ushida interrupted, his terse voice cutting off Honda's thoughts. "We're reaching weapons range..."

Honda grabbed the vox. "Company L! Fire at will!"

As one, the four tanks fired. Honda felt Solar Fury rock underneath him as she regurgitated a stream of superheated plasma. A Predator that was swiveling around as it tracked his tank with its lascannons erupted in flames as Solar Fury's plasma cannon struck home. Lascannons melted, the metal glowing red-hot as it was bathed in angry plasma, and smoke billowed from the slowly crumbling chassis. Still, the sponson lascannons continued to move toward the vaunted Leman Russ Executioner tank, only for Subaru and Matsuda to fire their sponson plasma cannons, finishing the tank hunter off.

Beside him, the Purity of Seals exploded as four ruby las-beams seared into her. There was a sharp cry from Lieutenant Shiba over the vox off before it was cut off by static. The Vengeance of the Shogun retaliated, piercing the Leman Russ Executioner's killer with triple las-beams. The Leman Russ Annihilator scored a kill against the Predator Annihilator, turning it into a fuming husk.

Authority Unchallenged was next, spewing another blast of plasma from her executioner cannon and plasma cannon sponsons, destroying a Vindicator whose short-range demolisher cannon was still out of range. Her hull lascannon spewed forth a ruby las-beam that glanced off a Land Raider.

Honda raked his eyes over the auspex, trying to make sense of the grainy holo-picts in his console. An enormous red icon slid into view, and the holo-pict translated it into a heavily armored Land Raider.

"Evasive maneuvers!"

The trio of Leman Russ tanks braked as the Land Raider fired. Three las-beams pierced through Shogun's Honor, a Leman Russ Executioner from Company M, and blew her out. The fourth las-beam scored a glancing hit across the thick front armor of Vengeance of the Shogun, but she held. Honda could hear Sergeant Satou cursing under his breath as the tank rocked from the impact.

"Fire!"

The Draconian Armored Defenders had very few Leman Russ Vanquisher tanks. That particular variant had been dwindling, particularly with the loss of Gryphonne IV to the Tyranids. As far as Honda knew, only Mars and Stygies VIII were capable of producing new Vanquisher tanks. However, Draconis IV had overcome that problem of fielding anti-tank variants by focusing solely on energy-based archeotech, and manufactured Leman Russ Annihilator variants to plug that gap. As such, the tank-hunting duties fell to the Leman Russ Annihilator tanks of each company.

The Vengeance of the Shogun fired its twin lascannons and hull lascannon, which glanced off the tracks of the heavily armored Land Raider. Initially, Honda thought that the armor-piercing lasbeams had little effect, but he saw the Land Raider ground to a stop. Follow-up shots from Solar Fury and Authority Unchallenged's hull lascannons blew out the driver's compartment, but the sturdy chasis prevented the las-beams from reaching the passenger compartment.

With their transport immobilized and damaged beyond repair, the rear hatch slammed open and the occupants began filing out. Honda's eyes widened when he recognized the bulky Tactical Dreadnought Armor of Chaos Terminators.

The next moment, the plasma cannons of Solar Fury and Authority Unchallenged erupted, engulfing the slow Terminators in superheated plasma. Even the resilient armor of the Terminators were unable to protect the Chaos Space Marines from the wrath of a star, vaporizing under the sheer heat.

A Rhino swung around, its driver skillfully avoiding the myriad las-beams from the Vengeance of the Shogun's lascannons. Its mounted combi-bolter blazed away, but the mass-reactive shells had little effect against the armor of a Leman Russ tank. It was forced to withdraw as the turret of Solar Fury whirled around to track it.

At the side, another Predator vanished in flames as the combined fury of Authority Unchallenged's plasma cannons washed over it. Gunzou muttered something and Solar Fury jerked a few seconds later. A Chaos Space Marine squad scrambling out of a downed Rhino vanished in a blaze of blue plasma.

We might win this...

For a moment, Honda actually dared to believe that. The Iron Warriors were renowned masters of siege, but in a battle of armor, the tanks of the Draconian Armored were unrivaled.

That arrogance dissipated when all four tanks of Company K disappeared, their armored chasises consumed by a single enormous fireball.

"What in the nineteen hells?!"

"Titan!"

While Gunzou snapped out a curse, Ushida barked out a warning. Honda already saw the massive, lumbering shapes of the corrupted God-machines marching over the tiny lines of Leman Russ tanks. A Warlord Titan, its hull black and decayed by unnatural forces of the Warp, towered over them, its plasma annihilator smoking.

Just a single volley from that unholy weapon annihilated an entire company of tanks. And the Warlord mounted three other similar weapons capable of the same magnitude of destruction.

"We've got to retreat!" Ushida shouted.

"Negative!" Honda snapped. Grabbing the vox, he yelled to the surviving tanks. "All tanks! Converge fire on the Warlord Titan!"

Not every crew heard him. Most of the tanks were fighting for their lives, dueling with Iron Warrior machines. But a significant number heard him - or perhaps the tank commanders had the same idea as Honda. Either way, a volley of plasma and las-beams slammed into the Warlord Titan, the dwarfed Leman Russ tanks displaying their defiance in a coalesce of light and fury.

But for all of their efforts, they might as well be tickling it.

However, the Warlord Titan's void shields shimmered. In the millennia that the Hell Incarnate had stalked the galaxy, razing cities with its guns, it had never suffered the indignity of being bitten by ants like this. The tormented machine-spirit bellowed ferociously, the volcano cannon mounted on its right arm swiveling around to blast another company of tanks into oblivion. The plasma annihilator, by now recharged, obliterated Company Y in the distance. The shoulder-mounted Apocalypse missile launchers spewed deadly projectiles that streaked toward Fortress Gammicon and impacted against the void shields.

"This is useless..." Subaru murmured from the right, staring up at the corrupted god in despair.

"Fire again!" Honda roared, ignoring his sponson gunner. Solar Fury and Gunzou obeyed, and another stream of plasma struck Hell Incarnate. Encouraged by her display of defiance, or compelled by duty, another barrage of plasma and las-beams surged up in unison, battering the beleaguered god-machine.

But still, the Titan continued to walk, unscathed.

Fortunately, this time, its void shields faded away, overloaded by the constant stream of plasma and las-beams. Hell Incarnate and its crew didn't seem to notice, or perhaps they knew that even without the void shields, the adamantium armor of the titan was still impervious to anything the little Leman Russ tanks could throw at it.

And then, they struck.

Rolling out of the hidden crevices of Fortress Gammicon, the super-heavy company locked onto their target. The trio of Shadowsword super-heavy tanks fired in perfect harmony, their volcano cannons erupted in an irridiscent blast of crimson energies. The first shot sheared away Hell Incarnate's plasma annihilator, and the massive weapon crashed onto a Land Raider, flattening the heavily armored transport. the second scored a glancing hit across the Warlord Titan's belly, carving an ugly scar that would have eviscerated it had it been a living foe.

The third dealt the decisive blow.

The volcanic lance decapitated Hell Incarnate, disintegrating the bridge where the fallen Princeps had made her throne. The headless Warlord Titan came to a shuddering stop, fuming heavily as the daemonic machine spirit was exorcized.

"Hell, yeah!"

Gunzou punched the air when he watched the demise of the enemy Titan. Normally, Honda would have reprimanded him for kicking up a fuss within the tight confines of the Leman Russ tank, but he was just as overjoyed.

"I knew the Shadowswords would take care of those titans!"

No sooner were the words out of his mouth when Shogun's Shadow blossomed into flame, its massive frame wrapped by plasma. The Reaver and two Warhounds stalked forward, their weapons pointed in the direction of the Titan-slayers. The two surviving Shadowsword tanks rolled back into cover, even as the nearest Warhound raked the fortification with its Vulcan mega-bolter. The machine-spirit of the Lupis Minoris howled with bloodlust, seeking vengeance for its fallen Alpha.

"Well, frak..." Gunzou muttered. Honda didn't pay him any heed.

"All units, fire on the Reaver!"

Even as he issued the order, the remaining Shadowswords had already recharged their capacitators. Their volcano cannons fired, one after the other. The first blast struck the Lupis Minoris, and for a moment it seemed that its void shields held. But as the volcano lance died, the void shields fizzled out with a shriek, the daemonic spirits dwelling within the protective screens vanishing back into the warp in a frenzied dance. The second volcano beam sheared off the Lupis Minoris's plasma annihilator, reducing the accursed weapon into molten sludge and causing the smaller god-machine to stagger.

Seeing their chance, Honda clicked the vox and yelled.

"Now! Fire on the Reaver!"

"Roger that," Lieutenant Shiba responded tightly.

Even as the air was drowned out by the thunderous volleys of plasma and las-beams, Honda blinked in confusion.

Lieutenant Shiba?

No, that couldn't be. Didn't Shiba die earlier? He saw the Purity of Seals destroyed, wrecked by an enemy Predator that the Vengeance of the Shogun annihilated. He had witnessed the Leman Russ Executioner tank's demise and heard his friend's dying shrieks over the vox...

"What's the matter, Honda?"

Shiba again, but there was something about his voice that didn't sit right. It sounded exactly like Shiba, yet it wasn't Shiba. The sound of his deceased friend's voice was making his skin crawl. No, it wasn't coming from the vox. Honda could almost feel Shiba's presence next to him, his comrade whispering eerily into his ear...

"Sir?"

Honda blinked and shook his head. Suzuki and Matsuda were the only ones beside him, and even then they were a little further to the front, on either side of Gunzou, who was sitting right in front of him. There was no one else in the tank.

"Sir, our weapons are not having any effect..."

"Fire again," Honda interrupted, not wanting to listen to Ushida's excuses. He gripped the vox tightly and activated it again. "All surviving units, fire on the Reaver again!"

"Order received."

Shiba's ghostly voice again, taunting him. Honda ignored it and focused his attention entirely on the Reaver, even as his throat ran dry.

The Reaver swung about, irritated as the small streams of plasma and miniscule las-beams pelted it. Its void shields shimmered, daemonic faces leering as blue and red energy blasts rippled across the screens. They seemed to buckle briefly, but for now they held.

Until the shot from the Supernova's Sorrow's volcano cannon struck it, ripping the void shields apart. The Reaver staggered, and turned to train its laser blaster and gatling blaster on the Shadowsword, but the Supernova's Sorrow's twin, Emperor's Wrath fired seconds later. The shot clipped the Reaver's leg, melting the frame and amputating it right beneath the joint.

Suddenly, the Reaver found itself off balance. Howling in impotent rage, Martial Mortis teetered for a second before the sheer weight of its upper body sent it toppling over. Canis Furor, which had been escorting it, shuddered as the bulk of Martial Mortis collided with it. There was a moment when it seemed that Canis Furor might be able to support the largely unruined torso of Martial Mortis, but then the two titans went down in a tangle, their fall sending tremors across the ground.

Supernova's Sorrow and Emperor's Wrath wasted no time firing their sponson lascannons at the downed titans. The Leman Russ Annihilators and the hull lascannons of the neighboring Leman Russ Executioners added to the barrage, countless ruby las-beams searing into the tangled titans and tearing through sizzling void shields. Several of them must have found their way into the reactor of one of the fallen titans, for both vanished in a gigantic cloud of nuclear plasma that scorched the earth and torched Iron Warrior tanks unfortunate enough to be within the proximity.

The sole survivor of the maniple, Lupis Minoris, screeched in fury as it swung its undamaged Vulcan mega-bolter and unleashed a hail of high-caliber rounds on the Shadowswords' position, driving them back.

"Fire! Destroy the remaining Titan!"

It didn't matter that Honda wasn't the ranking commander. Most of the tank commanders saw an opportunity and they trained their turret weapons on the remaining god-machine. Plasma and las-fire splashed against it from all directions, causing the wounded Warhound to falter. Lupis Minoris bellowed its defiance as it swept its Vulcan mega-bolter on the tanks, whose combined fire was beginning to sting even its vaunted armored plates. A trio of tanks to Solar Fury's right detonated as stream of depleted uranium rounds tore through them, the Leman Russ tanks' armored plating no match for the intensive barrage.

Then they emerged.

The two Knights of House Yato broke out of the smoke, their weapons blazing in hot rage. Shogun's Champion, the revered Knight Errant piloted by Fujiyama, raised its thermal cannon. A spear of super-heated energy lanced out and struck Lupis Minoris's leg. Unprotected by shot out void shields, the frame began to melt underneath the intensive heat. The wounded Warhound whirled about to face this new threat, but huge shells from Ryuujin's rapid-fire battle cannon hammered into the cockpit, causing the shatterproof glass to crack.

The Knight Errant and Knight Paladin then swooped beneath the staggering Lupis Minoris's range, and swung their reaper chainswords. Wreathed in blue, ferocious power fields, the buzzing reaper chainswords sawed through adamantium armor and plasteel casing alike, shearing the leg off. The Warhound tried to retreat, only to find that it was missing a leg. Toppling over helplessly, its crash sent a cloud of dust billowing across the field.

Shogun's Champion stalked to the front and leveled its thermal cannon at the damaged cockput. Another thermal blast of melta energy lanced forward and this time it reduced the cockpit and the titan's crew into molten slag.

"We did it..."

The Draconian Armored Defenders had faced titans...and not only did they survive, they even destroyed a maniple without any god-machines of their own. The enemy, even one as emotionless and implacable as the Iron Warriors, must surely be demoralized when they saw how their most formidable war-machines fall to mere mortals. Across the vox, Honda could hear his comrades cheering. Mixed into the cheers was the ghostly breathing of Shiba, but Honda pushed that out of his mind. The men's morale had reached its peak, and the armored divisions of the Draconian Defenders were enthusiastically pushing forward in order to rout the remaining enemy vehicles.

Buoyed by the success, Honda turned his eyes back to the auspex, only to gasp. The red icons, to his amazement, weren't diminished but instead were growing in number. Iron Warrior tanks were swarming forward like a horde of ants now. Far from being demoralized at the loss of their titan allies, it seemed that they were invigorated by their casualties. Heedless of their losses, they grimly pushed forward in that brutally efficient manner of them, pinpoint lascannon strikes taking out more Imperial tanks.

We've underestimated them.

Biting his lips, Honda gripped his command console tightly as he braced for the next wave of assault from the relentless Iron Warriors.