"WAAAGH!"
The orks sprinted toward the barricade etablished by the Astra Militarum around the Hive City of Augerilla. Volatile munitions spiraled in haphazard trajectories before harmlessly detonating against the flickering void shields that protected the sole hive city left under Imperial rule, but even without the protective dome, I thought it unlikely that those makeshift bolt rounds would hit anything.
The orks were not known for their accuracy, after all.
However, the orks were known to be excellent warriors in close combat, and they were dangerously drawing close to the barricade. Behind the ceramite walls, Guard officers yelled orders and guardsmen poured a fusillade of ruby las-beams into the incoming green tide.
Manning one of the ramparts in my Questoris Knight Preceptor, I opened fire with the low intensity beam of my suit's las-impulsor. The esoteric energies lanced through a charging horde and felled them before they could get too far. The multi-laser installed into the chest of my armor rolled about, spitting deadly beams and scything down more of the approaching greenskin. Above, the carapace stormspear rocket pod roared as it unleashed missiles that blew apart a ramshackle trukk that was ferrying a good number of boyz. The greenskins didn't seem all too intimidated when their transport was obliterated, hooting and laughing racuously as they poured out. They didn't even pay much attention to the majority of their brethren, who had been immolated by the explosion and were staggering about in a seemingly drunken manner before falling over.
The Cadians milling about the ramparts continued to fire disciplined volleys of las-beams into the unending horde, but for every ork they took down, two more replaced the dead xenos. At this rate, we would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, despite the horrific casualties my stalwart allies were reaping upon them. Once again, I was struck by how exemplary the Cadians were in battle. They never lost their cool, and were far more accurate and tenacious than the Draconian regiments I usually served alongside.
What we lacked in discipline and precision, however, we made up in fanaticism and technology. Looking at one of the auspexes inside my Throne Mechanicum, I saw a Draconian squadron of Leman Russ Executioner tanks roll up to take their place beside a Cadian column of more conventional Leman Russ main battle tanks, Vanquishers and Exterminators. Their plasma Executioner cannons bellowed as steam vented from their backs as they unleashed devastating streams of superheated matter across the ork tide, vaporizing boyz and ramshackle vehicles alike.
Swathes of the greenskin tide simply ceased to exist, their bodies incinerated by the sheer heat. Trukks, battle wagons and absurd contraptions that resembled racing cars exploded as the stream of plasma seared through them. Those that weren't torn apart by the first wave of plasma blasts were finished off by smaller streaks of blue-white light from plasma cannon sponsons or pierced by the ruby beams of hull lascannons.
Yet the orks continued to pour forward, filling the breaches that the Draconian Leman Russ Executioner tanks had just created. As far as I could see, they were a massive sea that swept forward relentlessly, with no end to their numbers.
That was all to change. Vendetta gunships swooped down to dislodge their passengers atop the ramparts. Kamikaze troopers rappeled down, not even bothering with their grav-chutes, as they dropped otno the top of the hive city walls. Unlike most regimental storm troopers, Draconian Kamikaze troopers were armed with volkite weaponry instead of the more typical hellguns - or hot-shot lasguns. Wielding volkite chargers, they fired incendiary beams into the ork horde, aided by targeting auspexes mounted in their helmets. The Kamikaze troopers spread out their shots, picking out the largest orks in the mobs, spacing their beams out evenly. Their targets were incinerated, but that wasn't the full extent of the damage wrought about by rare volkite technology.
The greenskins around the targets spontaenously combusted. Dozens of infernos ignited from the point of contact, engulfing panicking and confused orks, who had no idea what had just happened. It was only natural. The Imperium rarely fielded such ancient and exotic weapons in these dark days. The forge world of Draconis IV was one of the very few forge worlds that continued to manufacture volkite weapons in bulk.
The thermal rays from the Kamikaze troopers' volkite chargers continued to lance into the horde, incinerating large swathes of them better than any Hellhounds. Within a few minutes, the teeming sea of green had transformed into a colossal conflagration of red-orange flames, immolated orks spreading the flames by running headlong into their comrades.
The Kamikaze troopers weren't alone. Squadrons of Carnodon tanks rolled up to take their places alongside their heavier Leman Russ brethren. Armed with volkite culverins and volkite calivers, the medium tanks unleashed more of the thermal rays upon the blazing horde, wiping out the invasion force.
"Hmph. Seems like they don't need us here."
I raised an eyebrow when I heard the familiar voice over the vox. Glancing at one of the myriad holo-screens that floated around my Throne Mechanicum, I caught sight of a Questoris Knight Styrix lumbering toward our positions. Sir Kanda Keisuke hefted up the massive volkite chieorovile that made up his suit's right arm and fired into a milling blob of greenskins who had broken, only for their warboss to grab one of them and crush its head with its power klaw. That motivated the other orks to turn back around and continue their suicidal charge.
Sir Kanda took careful aim before vaporizing that warboss with the immense thermal ray from his volkite chieorovile. The orks around the disintegrated warboss howled as they combusted along with their deceased leader, and the flames only spread when more ruby thermal rays lanced into them. Coming alongside Sir Kanda's Questoris Knight Styrix were a pair of Armiger Moirax Knights, both armed with volkite veuglaires. They continued to rain down fiery death upon the ork horde from range, burning more of the xenos scum. With the bondsmen piloting the Armiger Moirax Knights dealing with the xenos infantry, Sir Kanda turned his attention to their heavy vehicles, his volkite chieorovile flashing blindingly as he scored a hit on one of their battlewagons, reducing it to a flaming heap.
The macroclade of Skitarii accompanying the Mechanicus Lance of House Kanda marched forward relentlessly, firing with uncanny precision. Several squadrons of Serberys Sulfurhounds crashed into the forward lines of orks, engulfing them in fiery phosphor. The cyber-beast mounts' maws yawned and cascading breaths of phosphor flame engulfed ork hordes. Behind the cavalry, Cybernetica maniples of Kastelan robots lumbered forward, their incendium combusters roaring as they washed the green tide with cleansing fire.
"That should be it," Sir Kanda said over the vox. "We will check out the northeast battlements. Sir Tanaka, if you require assistance, feel free to call upon us again."
"Thank you, Sir Kanda."
I watched the lance of Mechanicus Knights march off toward the northeast, bowing my head (Sir Kanda could see a holo-pict of me inside my Throne Mechanicum). A macroclade of Skitarii accompanied them, occasionlly taking potshots at the orks with their galvanic rifles.
Honestly, it was a common misconception that all Draconian Knights belonged to House Yato. While the wider Imperium believed that the Imperal Knights of Draconis III and Draconis IV severed under the banner of House Yato - and rightly so, for the Shogun was of the Yato line - there were actually several major Knight Houses who swore their allegiance to the Shogun. Led by the greatest Daimyos, each of them commanded their own house. There was House Takeda and House Uesugi, both of them second only to House Yato.
Among the many Draconian Knight Houses, House Kanda was unique in that it was seconded to the Adeptus Mechanicus priesthood that ruled over the forge world of Draconis IV. House Kanda were given Knight suits that were more in line with the Mechanicus's needs, and they often served alongside the Titans of Legio Draconis, who in turn relied heavily on the support of House Kanda. There were no scout Titans in Legio Draconis - rather, the Dark Dragons fielded massive war machines such as Warlord Titans and Warmaster Titans. The Knights of House Kanda frequently fulfilled the role of scouts, advancing ahead as the vanguard to report battlefield conditions back to the Princeps of the maniple. In fact, it was far more common for the Dark Dragons to dispatch only a single Warlord or Warmaster Titan to a battlefield in support of a few dozen lances of House Kanda.
Since House Kanda wore the same colors as House Yato and swore allegiance to the Shogun, it was easy to categorize them as Knights of House Yato. Indeed, there is very difference between the two houses - House Kanda was simply a branch clan of House Yato seconded entirely to the Mechanicus. The Daimyo who ruled over House Kanda - Kanda Kenji - was a direct relative of the Shogun. Yato Yoshimoto's first cousin, if I recalled correctly. So it wasn't wrong to just call them House Yato. Not unless you were really technical about it.
They didn't get very far when the situation changed. There was a huge explosion near the feet of Sir Kanda's Knight Styrix chassis, hurling skitarii rangers into the air in a mess of augmetics and body parts. A single Serberys Sulfurhound and his mount was crushed as a mass reactive shell detonated into them. A Kastelan robot waded through burning hordes of ork, only to be swatted off its feet by the whirring claw of a morkanaut.
"I knew this wouldn't be easy," I muttered under my breath as I turned around and saw the squadrons of ork walkers staggering toward us. Despite looking like scrap or oversized tin cans, I knew from experience how deadly they could be. They were slaughtering the skitarii and pushing the armored columns of the Astra Militarum back.
Adjustig my aim, I fired a high intensity beam from my las-impulsor. One of the Gorkanauts, spitting shells and rockets from its guns and sending the guardsmen atop the ramparts of the barricade into disarray, stumbled, a smoking crater in its chest. But it wasn't down, not yet. With a clank, it whirled around to face me, only to take a few multi-laser shots to the face. C.S. Goto would be proud...except that the multi-laser did nothing more than annoy the nob piloting it.
I fired another burst from my Knight's las-impulsor and the Gorkanaut finally went down, a smoking scrap. In its place, a Morkanaut lumbered forward, its power klaw raised. The mekboy piloting it wanted to make good use of its melee capabilities to overwhelm me before I could take advantage of the superior firepower of my Knight's las-impulsor.
I decided to teach it the error of its ways.
Sidestepping the power claw, I swung the reaper chainsword into its guts and eviscerated it. The power field flared to life and the teeth chewed into scrap metal, tearing a ragged hole in what would be the walker's abdomen. I then deftly guided my machine to step out of the way of a retaliating power klaw before hammering my las-impulsor into the gap I had just ripped into the Morkanaut's guts. My fingers clenched in my haptic gloves and I fired at pointblank range.
The ridiculous contraption detonated from the inside out, shrapnel raining down and slicing several nearby orks. I stumbled back, wincing from sympathetic feedback as the sharp metal left several scratches across the surface of my Knight suit, but otherwise I was unharmed.
To the side, I noticed that one of the Armiger Moirax was downed, having been torn apart by a Gorkanaut that had gotten too close. Sir Kanda was dueling a third Gorkanaut, weaving through its clumsy power klaw. He then seized the power claw with the Hekaton siege claw of his suit, and then ripped off the mechanical limb. There was a grinding wail as the Gorkanaut staggered, only for Sir Kanda to ram the siege claw into its head. In a single motion, he crushed it. The absurd walker slumped down, sparks flying from its frame.
Having finished off the Armiger Moirax and driven off the second to flight, the second Gorkanaut turned around to stab Sir Kanda in the back. I sheared its power klaw off with a blast from my las-impulsor and it careened, most of its shots going wide. Those that did hit detonated harmlessly against the shimmering ion shield that enveloped the Knight Styrix protectively.
"Thanks," Sir Kanda said as he whirled around and seized the midriff of the Gorkanaut with his Hekaton siege claw, pulverizing it. He then tossed it at an approaching Morkanaut that was firing and advancing simultaneously. The walker was knocked off its feet, falling onto its back helplessly and crushing both meleeing orks and skitarii alike.
I finished it off with a blast from my las-impulsor, setting off a chain reaction by destroying the crudely tacked on magazine racks that fed its voracious big shootas ammunition. The Morkanaut shuddered bfore it was blown apart.
"Phew. That should do it..."
Sir Kanda never finished his sentence. Something massive slammed into his Knight Styrix and exloded, wreathing his suit in a colossal conflagration. Despite his flickering ion shields, his machine went down, sparking. I took a step forward instinctively, but was relieved to see that his life-signs remained stable in a holo-screen inside my Throne Mechanicum.
"Damn, but that was bad," he groaned.
"Are you all right?" I asked, concerned. "Can you still move your suit? It looks pretty damaged, so you might want to fall back for now."
"And miss the fun?" Sir Kanda scoffed. "Look who's here."
I blinked and turned around. Two Stompas and a Gargant were waddling toward our position, their myriad weapons spitting out endless streams of shells and projectiles. Most of them went wide, but enough of them struck the battlements to send soldiers flying or vaporize them.
"Damn it!" I immediately moved toward the closest Stompa. Both of them had seen me and were turning around to face me. Even in the best of times, I wouldn't be able to take on a single Stompa by myself, let alone two. But if I didn't do anything, the courageous soldiers of the Astra Militarum would be slaughtered. Their tanks and gunships were pouring everything they had into the Gargant and Stompas, lascannons flaring red and plasma cannons glowing blue. But whatever force fields the orks had protected them from the intensive bombardment. Right now, the only thing that was preventing the orks from routing our armor was the void shields, but they were dangerously close to flickering out under the relentless assault.
Both Stompas fired at me while I tried to dodge. I attempted to respond with a well-placed las-impulsor shot, but the high intensity beam only dissipated against the kustom force field that shielded one of them. Missiles streaked from my caparace Stormspear rocket pod, but they had no more success than the high intensity beam of the las-impulsor. I circled them, trying to make use of abandoned hab blocks as cover, but their devastating weaponry laid the towering structures low in several salvos.
Fortunately, help came from an unexpected quarter. Two plasma beams surged outward and converged upon one of the Stompas. The superheavy walker staggered as its force fields blew out and its frame was engulfed in a tsunami of superheated matter. Its once yellow and red surface scorched black, it flailed about as secondary detonations shook it from within.
"Long live the Emperor," I murmured in awe, glancing at one of my auspex screens. The super-heavy tank company of the Draconian 724th armored regiment had arrived. Two Stormblades were parked beside their smaller Leman Russ Executioner tanks bethren and escorted by a squadron of Carnodon volkite tanks that protected them from the ork infantry. Their plasma blastguns roared again and the Stompa finally exploded.
The second Stompa turned its attention toward the two Stormblade super-heavy tanks, and I seized the distraction to step inside its guard and sliced off one of its arms with my suit's reaper chainsword. The Stompa swung its mega-choppa at the carapace of my Knight, almost taking off the Stormspear rocket pod. I hissed and struck at its belly, carving a narrow hole across the surface.
In a snarling of gears, the second Stompa slashed at me once more, forcing me to back my machine away. Behind, the Stormblades fired another volley of plasma that washed across the Stompa's failing force fields and scorched its back. The warboss inside the Stompa decided to focus its attention on my Knight, however, and continued to bear down on me. I responded by firing both the las-impulsor and Stormspear rockets into the gap I had just opened up.
Burning grots shrieked as they spilled from the expanding gap and the huge machine shuddered. The heat inside the failing machine must have reached a crescendo, for hatches all over the Stompa opened as the crew inside tried to bail. A few mekboyz seized the fleeing grots and yanked them back in, only to be cut apart by my hull-mounted multilaser.
Then the Stompa was finished off by the Stormblades. For a moment, I was blinded, my auspex automatically darkening the glare to protect my eyes, as a colossal fireball swallowed the super-heavy walker. Then it toppled over.
Only the Gargant was left. Try as we might, even with the firepower of the Stormblades and two regiments of tanks, we couldn't penetrate its force fields. The Gargant advanced inexorably toward the hive city of Augerilla, not to be denied.
Then it vanished in a pillar of smoke as as a massive wave of plasma engulfed it, shorting out the force field and incinerating the titanic walker.
"That wasn't from the Stormblades..." I muttered, dread filling me.
As powerful as the plasma blastungs of the Stormblades were, this singular plasma blast was powerful enough to level cities. Only one existence was capable of mounting such a fearsome weapon.
A Titan.
Looking up, I saw a single Warlord Titan, clad in the colors of the traitor Legio Mortis, lumber forward. Its war horns blared, a daemonic roar that almost split my head apart. Its Sunfury plasma annihilator leveled to point toward the remnants of the broken ork tides teeming around the hive city before unleashing a second volley of superheated matter and exterminating them. Infantry, armor, walkers, it didn't matter. whatever the debased Warlord Titan aimed at, everything vanished in a flash of light.
Then the traitor engine turned its attention on Augerilla, its plasma annihilator smoking and venting superheated gases as it readied for another shot.
"Emperor save us all," I whispered and clenched my haptic gloves. The archenemy had finally arrived at our last stronghold, and we had little that could stand up against firepower and armor of such godlike magnitude.
