The SpeedWaaagh! descends

The Rokk struck the barren wasteland of Tetsu with apocalyptic impact. The men and women of Argent Armor, as well as the Krieg infantry siege regiment serving alongside them, watched as clouds of dust spiraled upward, blossoming in colossal clouds that blotted out the sun.

Though they had dug in and fired Icarus lascannons and Hydra flak rounds into the skies, shooting down ork fighters and transports, the single Rokk that had landed was too massive to be felled by scores of las and anti-air rounds. Its surface, scarred by both friction from atmospheric entry and powerful weapons, was a pockmarked mess. One side blew out, and guffawing greenskins poured out in vehicles, whooping and cheering as they pushed their yellow buggies to the extreme.

Accompanying the various buggies, ranging from megatrakk scrapjets to kustom boosta-blastas to shokkjump dragstas, were warbikes, a trukk and a battlewagon. Warboss Blitzog bellowed in delight as he clung to the railing of his battlewagon, his boyz laughing in sheer joy from the sheer violence of the journey. The warbikes, led by a defkilla wartrike, zoomed ahead of the other Speed Freeks, letting loose inaccurate volleys of dakka at the distant tanks of the humies.

"Let's giv' them a good krumpin'!" Blitzog roared, much to the approval of his boyz. He smacked the driver with his good hand, careful not to decapitate the moron with his power klaw. "Faster, ya git! Those humies won't be hangin' around fer too long!"

Such was the speed and ferocity of their speedwaaagh! that the orks caught the humans by surprise. Shoota rounds and rokkits detonated in the midst of the infantry, blowing both Argent soldiers and Krieg guardsmen to bloody pieces. Ahead, the Baneblade, Red Herring, loomed, its cannon traversing to fire upon the approaching orks.

A mekboy cackled as he activated the esoteric weapon of his boosta-blasta, and though the exotic beam failed to penetrate the adamantine armor of the Baneblade, it scrambled Red Herring's targeting auspexes. Colonel Adrian Mueller cursed when he saw that his hololith had been fouled.

"Someone get me vision on those greenskin bastards!" He yelled, swinging open the cupola to have a good look. Below, the infantry were being butchered, and one Armored Sentinel was a smoking wreck. The other fought against the warbikers and defkilla wartrike that had slain his comrade, using the chainsaw of his bipedal steed to hack apart the bikers. Plasma erupted from the underslung cannon of the aging walker, bathing one of the warbikers in superheated matter.

The two Leman Russ tanks fired, and one of the Vanquisher rounds punched through the battlewagon. The ramshackle contraption continued to roll forward for another hundred meters or so before it finally halted, its blown structure literally falling apart around its passengers.

"Wat are ya waitin' for, ya gitz? Gorkmas? Get yer arses out! We iz gonna charge those humies on foot!" Blitzog bellowed, smacking one of his bewildered boyz out of the ruined battlewagon. Heavy bolters chattered, reducing the boy next to him to a bloody mess, but the warboss simply wiped the red fluids off his face and hopped off. "Gitz of Yellow Sunz! Do ya wanna live fer'ever or sumtink? Move, ya bloody gitz!"

More of them obeyed, rushing out, even as streams of plasma sang over them to engulf the warbikers. A shell from Red Herring landed right next to a speeding buggy, but the dragstas was able to veer to the side. Shrapnel slammed into its crumbling frame, pelting the grunting ork rider, but the greenskins were a resilient breed, and their machines worked more on their belief than logic. With a whoop, he plunged straight into a reeling squad of Argents, slaughtering the infantry before they knew what hit them.

The tanks pulled back, with the two Hellhounds spitting out armor melting lances from their melta cannons. Another buggy was reduced to smoke, its rider getting too overeager to fire his big shoota at pointblank range. Red Herring bellowed its rage even as Colonel Mueller desperately barked orders, but the targeting auspexes had been scrambled. Mass reactives went wide, striking only a couple of unfortunate boyz too stupid to dodge. The ruby las from its lascannon sponsons grazed the swerving trukk, failing to punch through to its core and obliterate it.

A Leman Russ main battle tank shuddered as it fired its ordnance, but the shells went wide, almost flipping over a buggy that roared past. Its heavy bolters had more success, detonating in one of the warbikers' spluttering vehicles and hurling the rider off. The ork landed face first in the dirt, but picked himself back up a few seconds later. Spitting out broken teeth and cursing, the greenskin straightened his head and continued charging forward on foot, his hardy physiology more annoyed than damaged from the fall.

"Fall back!" Mueller had enough. His infantry had been butchered, and though the durable tanks of the Imperium were withstanding whatever bolts and rokkits the orks were firing at them, the hardy xenos were about to overrun their lines. Wishing to preserve the precious and rare tanks of the Argent Armor, he ordered a retreat. "Argents! Men of Krieg! We are leaving!"

The tanks roared as they reversed, their drivers pushing full throttle as they struggled to escape the desperate melee. The two Hellhounds covered the retreat of Red Herring and its Leman Russ escorts, spitting out thermal lances into the pursuing bikes and buggies. The sole surviving Sentinel hacked another ork apart before whirling around and taking flight, its loping strides allowing it to outpace even the speedy ramshackle vehicles.

With the Imperial Guard retreating in disarray, the orks ran rampant over the surface, overrunning the garrison and gathering whatever scrap they could to construct more bikes and buggies. Before the Imperials knew it, they had already captured three mining outposts and destroyed them, melting most of the ore and metal to slag for their own use.

Tetsu was in danger of falling to the orks...

*

"The loathsome greenskins have already captured and destroyed three mining stations, and are about to capture and overrun the remaining three ones," Lord Takeda said gravely. "If we don't drive them out, the resources and supplies of metals and ore to the Adeptus Mechanicus will be disrupted, and we will be starved of machines, vehicles, weapons and ammunition. As such, it is our utmost priority to defending the last mining outposts and exterminate the vermin."

Easier said than done. I had heard horror stories of how the Astra Militarum forces garrisoned in Tetsu had been routed. Though they had salvaged much of their armor and saved their tanks, their infantry had been massacred. The situation was looking bleak.

"They are coming!" Suzuki warned, his Armiger Warglaive, Hebi, advancing toward a trukk and a couple of buggies that I didn't recognize. Imperial intelligence had identified one of them as a kustom boosta-blasta or something, firing gretchin at the foes for some reason.

I wasn't given time to ponder. The boosta-blasta fired at my Dominus Knight Castellan for some reason. I wasn't worried, trusting in Kazan's venerable armor to withstand it, but my auspexes went haywire the moment the gretchin made contact with my steed, the pathetic little creatures shrieking before they splattered across the adamantine hull and left nothing but bloody smears.

"What the?!"

"Advancing forward to meet them in combat!" Kanda growled, piloting Engetsu forward. The Questoris Knight Errant raised its thermal cannon and reduced a waddling deffdread into molten slag, while the hull mounted meltagun vaporized a charging warbiker. Revving up his reaper chainsword, Kanda scythed through the warbikers, but many of them whooped and circled him, using their speed to evade the deadly weapon. Their warboss, mounted atop the defkilla wartrike, swung his power klaw, which glanced harmlessly off the venerable armor of Engetsu.

"I'll deal with the battlewagon!" Sato offered, already moving Kaen to intercept. The Armiger Warglaive fired its melta weapons, scoring molten holes in the massive vehicle, but the battlewagon continued barreling forward, not at all slowed. Watanabe provided support, Tsurugi following up with another volley of incandescent beams from his thermal spear. This time, he succeeded in blowing up the battlewagon, which careened straight toward Kaen and Lord Takeda's Naginata. A colossal fireball engulfed both Knight suits, the driver eager to drag them to the underworld as well.

Unfortunately for the stricken vehicle and its lamentable driver, the explosion did little more than scorch the hulls of the Armiger Warglaive and Cerastus Knight Lancer. A deffkopta above was winged, but didn't suffer much damage and continued hovering with its two squadron mates. The buggy hurtling forward wasn't as lucky, though, the diver yelping as he was singed by the blast. His machine made ominous noises, but it held.

For now.

"I see the warboss. Blitzog, was it?" Takeda growled, lowering the spear of his Knight Lancer. "He's mine."

"He's all yours, lord," I agreed, but I was firing the twin meltaguns at the Trukk and blowing some parts off. Suzuki had failed to destroy it, and the transport was too far away for Kazan to bring the full power of the twin meltaguns to bear. I had more important things to worry about, though. Turning around, I missed completely with the volcano lance, which sucked. On the other hand, the plasma decimator erupted with superheated fury, decimating half of the warbikers that plagued Engetsu. Above, the siegebreaker cannons boomed, hurling ordnance at the boyz surrounding Blitzog and pulverizing them. Not to be outdone, Sato charged the boyz, clearing the chaff around Blitzog with his whirring reaper chain-cleaver so that our lord would have a clear shot at the warboss, who was gradually being isolated as his minions were cut down around him.

Even the notorious resilience of the greenskins was no match for the formidable firepower that Imperial Knights could bring to bear.

"You're dead," Takeda hissed, Naginata trampling over the broken bodies of the boyz and challenging the warboss. Blitzog looked up, raising his power klaw in a challenge, before he was impaled upon the cerastus shock lance. His body was hurled aside from a tremendous crack, smoking and hissing.

With their leader's death, the mob began to fall apart, but the surviving greenskins began attacking in a frenzy. Disorganized and disunited, their attacks lacked coordination, but they were making near suicidal charges now.

"Damn it!"

Sato was struggling to pull back, Kaen being bombarded by an ork warplane from above. Rokkits and bolts hammered into his flickering ion shield. Already weakened by the onslaught from the hovering deffkoptas, whose pilots recklessly and gleefully swooped in to pummel the Armiger Warglaive with rokkits and experimental weaponry that shouldn't work, yet somehow did, Kaen buckled. The deathblow came when a buggy crashed into him, the rider laughing manically as he brought Kaen down with his power klaw.

"You filthy bastards!" Takeda roared, turning his attention from the limp body of a most likely still alive Blitzog to avenge the fallen Kaen. He heroically intervened, though his assistance was too late. The cerastus shock lance punched through the buggy, obliterating the manically cackling ork rider, which blew up and buffeted the still lurking deffkoptas, sending one spiraling down to its death. Not wasting any time, I fired my plasma decimator at the low flying machines, disintegrating the remaining two in sun-hot fury.

This time, my volcano lance struck true, destroying the Trukk. Dazed greenskins spilled out of the wreckage and began squabbling, only to be smacked around by the big mek with a shokkgun. Watanabe took care of a charging buggy, his melta weapons slicing through the misshapen vehicle and incinerating the rider. To the side, Suzuki had carved apart the boosta-blasta and proceeded to cleave the buggy next to it into two, wrecking it. Kanda's Engetsu was still trying to finish off the last few bikers, which he finally stomped to oblivion, but the defkilla wartrike was a harder opponent. Its existence was ended when Kanda finally put his reaper chainsword through the warboss's head and brought it down to shred the spinning vehicle to pieces.

Naginata slew another buggy, while Suzuki turned Hebi toward the boyz. I joined in, bombarding their position with siegebreaker cannons and twin meltaguns, and Suzuki eventually killed the orks and the accompanying big mek with his reaper chaincleaver. Above, the ork plane continued to fire at Naginata, bringing it down. For some reason, the ion gauntlet shield was failing, and the rokkits and shells were detonating ferociously against Naginata and nearly toppling the venerable Cerastus Knight Lancer.

Takeda was far from being laid low, though. Braving through a fusillade of bolt rounds from a speeding buggy, he waited until it was within range before he thrust his spear. A burst of energy erupted from the esoteric weapon, impaling the buggy and erasing its rider from existence.

Emboldened by our lord's success, I fired the volcano lance once more and destroyed the last buggy on the field. Not even a smoldering wreck remained. With my task done, I turned to face the circling ork jet, whose pilot was determined to at least bring down Naginata. Hefting up the plasma decimator, I triggered the volatile weapon. Heat warnings wailed in my Throne Mechanicum, and I felt the temperature go up. Outside, Kazan stumbled, couplings blowing up as boiling steam burst from ruined cablings. The weapon had gotten hot, proving hazardous to its wielder, and Kazan was paying the price for it.

Nonetheless, I succeeded in directing the superheated stream upward, catching the swooping plane. The midriff softened and melted before the aircraft dipped and crashed into a nearby hab-block, demolishing the structure.

"Excellent work." Even though Naginata was swaying from all the damage it had sustained from the orks' salvos, Takeda sounded pleased. "We've managed to wrest Tetsu back from the vile orks. Let's hunt down any remaining xenos so that the miners can resume operations."

"Yes, lord."

As we piloted our knights about to follow him back toward the rokk where the greenskins had came from, I couldn't help but glance once more at the carnage we had wrought. For a moment, I felt a chill, but I didn't know what went awry until I studied the ruins where Lord Takeda had been fighting in mere moments ago. It took a while, but the nagging feeling finally clicked.

I realized that Blitzog's body was gone.

Crusade Campaign Context

I probably should provide some context behind the stories of the current Crusade campaign. A few games have been played so far. My friend's Imperial Guard army against another friend's Dark Eldar, which ended in a win for the Dark Eldar on the first week...and apparently, the Dark Eldar friend accidentally took one of my young friend's Krieger - a guardsman armed with a plasma gun - and brought him home. He brought the poor guy the next week and forgot to return him, packing him with his Dark Eldar models, and then forgot to bring the entire collection the following week. Finally, he brought the Krieger back last week, and the guardsman was finally reunited with his regiment. Heh.

That's how the previous story about Trooper 451 came about. It was kind of funny, and the whole situation inspired me to conceive how the poor Krieg guardsman was abducted and trapped in Commorragh for three weeks before my friend finally returned him to the other friend. It was very fitting, because the Krieger was put right in the same box as the Drukhari models, so...yeah, Commorragh. Heh. And we all know what happens when you're abducted by the Drukhari. You get brought to Commorragh to serve as a slave or a gladiator. Given that the Krieger eventually made his way back to his owner, I thought a gladiator was more fitting for him, especially since he was wielding a plasma gun. He would have a higher chance of escaping as a gladiator, anyway. I was also tempted to name the Kroot Groot, but...yeah, that wasn't a good idea, and so I shaved off the last two letters and changed his name to Grove instead. Not original, I know.

Shortly after returning to his regiment, my friend played a second game of Imperial Guard against the other friend's Drukhari, and...yeah, he brought a Baneblade. Hence the Baneblade showing up at the end of the story. Their match was cut short, similar to the reason why we had a sudden blackout in my other story about Imperial Guard versus Chaos Space Marines. You remember that the Imperial Guard was winning with their armored might before the surviving Chaos Space Marines - after butchering the mortal infantry - withdrew in the cover of total darkness?

That happened because, heh, there was a power outage in the neighborhood. It affected the friendly local gaming store we were at, the store closed up early. We finished the game early, and as you saw in the previous post, the last couple of photos were taken in darkness, using light from my friend's smartphone. I thought of incorporating that into the narrative of our games.

Now, while it was fun to write out the battles of our Crusade matches in prose form, the disadvantage is that - much as Sandy Mitchell did with his Ciaphas Cain series, and Dan Abnett with his Gaunt's Ghosts series - there really isn't much of a context to consolidate the gains or clearly express the flow of the overall campaign. As such, I would have to write "appendix" chapters like both those awesome novelists did to provide the larger strategic picture.

In addition to the two matches of Imperial Guard versus Drukhari, where the Dark Eldar won one decisively and the other was cut short (probably counted as their win because they destroyed the Baneblade), there were four other matches played. More astute readers can figure out what they were. Imperial Knights versus Chaos Space Marines twice, where...let's just say it was a bit one-sided, even after the nerfs to Knights in the balance dataslate. Knights are tough. I fielded my own Imperial Guard after that because it was kind of...you know, rough for my opponents if I continued playing Imperial Knights in what was supposed to be a casual narrative campaign, and my Draconian Defenders won the first game against Dark Eldar by the skin of their teeth, the heroic Commissar Lucius rolling a 6 for his invulnerable save against a dark lance from a Raider to score me the objective on the Spawning Ground mission (I was defender for some reason, so I had the idea that the Imperial Guard were trying to "spawn" void shields for the next match, which was an assault from Chaos Space Marines) by bringing it up to 6 Gestation Tally on the last turn, despite the Dark Eldar slaughtering all the other infantry and destroying my Rogal Dorn tank.

The Draconian Defenders then repelled an assault from the Chaos Space Marine warband featuring Khorne Berzerkers and Plague Marines, relying on an overwhelming barrage of plasma against the mainly infantry force that were running (or shambling) toward them in the open.

What does this mean for the greater strategic picture? Well, the Knights have conquered a new world in the newly explored subsector, christened it Inari, and colonies fleeing the Fourth Tyrannic War in Segmentum Pacificus have settled down in Inari, an agri-world. The subsequent victories by the Imperial Guard and four victories by the Imperium mean we have at least three worlds under our command - Inari, an agri-world. Tetsu, a mining world. Guntai, a garrison world (or hive world).

Dark Eldar had struck at Tetsu and abducted miners and Guardsmen from the reinforcing Argent Armor and Krieg regiments there - hence the story of Trooper 451. The Chaos warbands are not united, launching scattered attacks, and have been repelled thrice, lacking an overall leader and cohesion. For now.

So that's about it, and as we play more games, I'll come up with more overall strategic pictures and context. Till then!

Trooper 451

Trooper 451 awoke in a cold, dark place. He reached up to his face, his gloved fingers coming into contact with his rebreather. The lens of his visor seemed fine, and he could smell the stale scent of recycled oxygen being circulated in his suit. His heavy trenchcoat was battered, but not torn.

Excellent. He was still in optimal condition to continue his fight for the Emperor. The Krieg trooper rose unsteadily, looking around. He was in a cell, surrounded by moist stone walls, and on one side, what served as a door was replaced by a row of spiky bars. On his other side, his plasma gun had been left untouched, lying on the asphalt floor. Whoever had brought him here had generously allowed him to keep his weapon.

Trooper 451 paused and closed his eyes, dredging up memories. If he was to serve the Emperor, he was better off knowing what had transpired. He recalled serving alongside the 6th Argent Armor, with his regiment, the 422nd Krieg Siege Brigade. They had been caught by surprise by a Drukhari raiding party, the sleek, spiky ships sailing in from an unknown webway to abduct the citizens of Tetsu. Along with two Leman Russ tanks of the Argent Armor, the 422nd Siege Brigade had responded instantly, the Krieg infantry moving up to engage the Venoms, Raiders and Ravagers that had erupted from nowhere.

There was fierce fighting. Trooper 451 wasn't sure of the details, but he recalled firing at a group of Kabalite Warriors, trading las-fire against their splinter rifles. The men around him had fallen, going a small way in repaying Krieg's eternal debt to the God-Emperor as penance for their great betrayal a millennia past, but they had wreaked a toll on the Drukhari raiders.

But then the Incubi came. Weaving through the net of ruby red las-fire, they were suddenly in the midst of the Kriegers, cleaving them apart with glaives and cruelly carved blades. Trooper 451 had turned to aim at them, undaunted by the carnage and loss of his squadmates, but...that was the last thing he remembered. A burst of pain had exploded in his mind, causing him to black out...

...and now he was here, trapped in a cell. No doubt abducted by the sadistic Drukhari.

Trooper 451 felt neither fear nor despair. He was one of many cloned troopers from the vats of the subterranean facilities in radioactive Krieg, indoctrinated to serve the God-Emperor and continue paying the price for his world's unforgivable betrayal. He was more than happy to sacrifice his life for the Imperium.

However, he was no fool. Simply dying was of no benefit to the Imperium. So he shall bid his time and wait for an opportunity, and in doing so, maximize the chances of dealing maximum damage to the enemies of the God-Emperor.

His first opportunity came when the Drukhari slave owners came for him. Opening the gates, they shepherded him out, along with the other prisoners. Trooper 451 did not recognize any of them, but they ranged from captured Kroot mercenaries, a brutish Ork with a power klaw and a big shoota, to a xenos he was unable to identify. There were few, if any, humans among the gladiators. The Ork was guffawing in relish, clacking his power claw and even attempted to eviscerate the dark Eldar slaver, but she swiftly punished him with her thorny whip. The weapon might be slender, but evidently it had been coated in toxins, for the Ork roared in agony and was brought down to his knees from a single cut.

"Go," the Drukhari slaver hissed in low Gothic and gestured toward the arena. She smiled wickedly. "Fight for your pathetic lives. The best gladiator will receive a bigger meal than the others."

The Kroot chuckled and was the first one out, his feathers rustling in the wind. Trooper 451 didn't share the enthusiam of the other races and patiently followed behind. He checked the power levels of his plasma gun, noting that the Drukhari were generous enough to provide him ammunition. Plasma flasks, scavenged from other fallen Imperial soldiers, had been presented to him.

All they wanted in return was entertainment. Trooper 451 would give them that for now, and then further punishment later. When he met up with his fellow Guardsmen. For Krieg and the God-Emperor, he would return to this place - which the slaver had called Commorragh - and claim it for the Imperium.

But he couldn't do anything when he was on his own.

The first opponent was a Talos pain engine, the floating abomination's claws snapping threateningly. It was accompanied by its brethren, the trio of them drifting into the coliseum. The spectators roared from where they watched, throngs of Drukhari, other Aeldari and various citizens of Commorragh gathered for a bloody spectacle.

Trooper 451 ignored them for now, charging up his humming plasma gun as he focused on the Talos. Already, the Kroot and the Ork were charging forward, one clicking with avian caws and the other loosing a guttural bellow of delight, and fell upon the Talos Engine. The other gladiators joined them too, but one was eviscerated, its blue blood spilling across the stone floor. A third goat-shaped xenos was impaled in the chest by the Talos's tail, braying as it attempted to hack away with curved blades. The Tzaangor fell away, its eyes lifeless.

All this while, Trooper 451 hurried forward, lining up a shot. He supercharged the plasma gun, feeling the heat build up to dangerous levels, and unleashed the fury of a sun. The stream of starstuff struck the Talos in dead center, melting its armored shell and causing it to thrash in agony. With a snarl, the Talos turned on him, slashing with its claws.

Trooper 451 hit the ground and rolled, feeling a shower of debris on his back. He rose shakily and got off another shot before the Talos seized him. His breath knocked out of him, the Krieger felt his plasma gun fall from his slack hands, but he wriggled his arms free of the abomination's grip. Feeling its claws digging through his flak vest and into his flesh, he flailed about and drew his shovel from his backpack as the Talos brought him closer to its sucking mandibles.

"For Krieg and the God-Emperor!" He yelled and stabbed the shovel down with both hands. He had chosen the spot where his plasma gun had scorched the creature's flesh, a grotesque amalgamation of burned organic tissue and molten black metal. It sank deep into the wounded skin, which had been softened by the superheated matter from earlier, and hit bone.

The Talos wailed and dropped him, thrashing wildly to dig the shovel out of its messy collarbone. Trooper 451 was dazed for a second, but he spotted his plasma gun just inches away. Scrambling for his weapon, he picked it up and aimed just when the Talos plucked out his shovel and hurled it. Without flinching as his shovel missed him by centimeters, impaling another unfortunate xenos to the wall behind, he squeezed the trigger.

The stream of plasma hit the bleeding area that he had dug open with his shovel. The Talos shrieked once more, smoke billowing from its wound, and its organic components vaporizing from the sheer heat. A few seconds later, the monstrosity toppled, its fleshy parts melted and its now hollow shell steaming.

At the side, the Kroot and Ork had finished off their opponents. There were cheers and boos from the crowd, but Trooper 451 ignored them all, instead checking on his weapon and swapping out the now empty plasma flask for a new one. The weapon felt hot to the touch, and he realized he had pushed his luck by supercharging the hazardous weapon three times in succession.

Fortunately, the Emperor protects.

Over the next course of three weeks, Trooper 451 and his companions, which he outright ignored - the Kroot, who had introduced himself as Grove, and the Ork who bragged about being Warboss Gutbusta - were thrown into the gladiatorial pits again and again. Each time, Trooper 451 survived with his trust plasma gun, the Drukhari supplying him with plasma flasks every time he was about to run out of ammunition. His shovel, though, remained as trusty as ever, a stabbing weapon that would make the Emperor proud.

He had yet to see an opportunity, but he continued to bide his time.

His patience was rewarded three weeks after his capture. After bringing down a massive, tentacled xenos that looked more like a plant than a beast, he and his companions were about to return to their cells when screams erupted from the spectator stand.

Daemons.

Ever since the fall of Biel-Tan, Commorragh had constantly been invaded by pockets of daemonic incursions here and there. Not that Trooper 451 was aware of that. The only thing that mattered to him was that it was an opportunity.

The Slavers and Drukhari gladiators - mostly consisting of Wyches and their commanding Succubi - had moved to engage the red-skinned and hooved daemons that were cutting through the spectators with flaming blades and spiky chains. The nobles, protected by elite Kabalite warriors, fired whatever exotic weapons they had while their bodyguards formed precise ranks, shouldering their splinter rifles and portable dark lances.

A bestial bellow thundered through the arena, and a titanic Bloodthirster burst through the side of the arena, cleaving through rock and concrete with its axe. Several Kabalite warriors simply ceased to exist, with nothing but a mist of blood that remained. The Archon to whom they were sworn in service to, turned to flee, but the Bloodthirster snatched him up and crushed him in its hand.

The coliseum was consumed by chaos.

"Now's our chance!" Grove chripped, twirling his bladed staff. At least Trooper 451 thought it was a staff, though he had seen the Kroot fire rounds from its barreled end like a rifle before. He hopped onto the ledges that made up the spectator seats. "Should we not use this opportunity to escape?"

"Now there's a good krumpin'!" Gutbusta cheered heartily, and instead moved in the direction of the red-skinned daemons. He was eying the Bloodthirster in particular. "I wanna that fink's teeth!"

Trooper 451 ignored the Ork Warboss and instead followed Grove. His plasma gun glowed as he unleashed volleys at Wyches and slavers that had turned to corral the gladiatorial slaves and send them back to their cells. He took particular satisfaction when he incinerated the female slaver that had been put in charge of them, striking her in the back when she lashed her envenomed whip at Grove.

"Thank you," the Kroot said, glancing at Trooper 451. He said nothing and pushed forward, scanning the area outside the gladiatorial pits for a route of escape. Even if they left the coliseum and entered the city, what then? There was nowhere in Commorragh that they could take shelter in. But Grove had come prepared and he pointed with his staff. "There, we can use their ships."

Trooper 451 spotted the Raiders that Grove was pointing toward and he nodded silently. Careful not to supercharge his plasma gun, he unleashed another volley at the Wyches that were bounding toward them. A few of them were picked off by Grove's subtler Kroot rifle while they were focusing on Trooper 451, who they had deemed to be the bigger threat. Exchanging nods, the human and the Kroot made for the Raiders.

In the midst of the chaos wrought by the incursion of Bloodletters and Bloodthirsters, the fleeing citizenry and hardpressed Kabalite Warriors paid no attention to the two racing down the streets. Commorragh was populated not only by Drukhari, but also a myriad of xenos species, including countless captured human slaves. They weren't too out of place in the streets.

Therefore, it wasn't too difficult for them to climb aboard the Raiders. While the Kabalite Warriors - those of the Black Heart - were occupied with firing at Bloodletters, Grove leaped onboard the closest one, and then extended a talon to help Trooper 451 up.

"We should keep a low profile," the Kroot said. "And when they leave the webway, we'll slip away quietly and escape to whatever world unfortunate enough to draw their predations."

Trooper 451 nooded. By the Emperor's providence, it would be an Imperial world. The Drukhari was known for raiding the planets of the Imperium and abducting countless of their citizens. From there, if he could link up with the Planetary Defense Force and arrange to be reunited with his regiment...no, even if it was impossible for them to send him back, he could organize the garrisons to pay the Drukhari back. By himself, it was fooldhardy and reckless, but with an army at his back, he was confident that he could achieve victory and crush the vicious xenos raiders.

He didn't have to wait long. A few hours later, the Kabalite warriors filled the holds of the Raider, battered and bleeding from their tussle with the daemons. Their commanding Archon marched up, spitting venomously.

"Leave these...lowly creatures to the fool Vect to take care of. We'll depart immediately. Hopefully, those foul beasts were be gone by the time we return."

"Right away, my lord." The Kabalite warrior who served as the pilot saluted and took the helm. Silently and smoothly, the Raider sailed toward the passages of the webway, the head of a dark, shadowy armada.

The Drukarhi hit the planet of Tetsu hard, eager to spirit away the citizens. They almost did not account for the local regiment to field a Baneblade, which absorbed volleys from several Ravagers before its adamantium hull was cored open by the exotic dark lances. Meanwhile, Trooper 451 managed to disembark from the Ravager after burying his shovel in the back of a Kabalite warrior and erasing another with his plasma gun. Beside him, Grove stealthily cut apart an unsupsecting Kabalite warrior and sniped the other before she realized her companion was dead. The two of them snuck to the edge of the razor-shaped ship, which was hovering no more than ten meters from the ground to disgorge its complement of Wracks. Dropping to the ground, he fired his plasma gun once more at the Wracks that had dropped into the midst of Imperial Guardsmen that had arrived to engage the Raider, saving them from a rout.

"W...what? You...?" The planetary defense force sergeant stared at the approaching guardsman in bafflement. He wasted no time in coming to a stop and saluting.

"Trooper 451-6711-2900 of the 422nd Krieg Siege Brigade," he said, his voice ringing hollowly from beneath his rebreather. "If possible, I would like to see your commander. I have experience in fighting against the Drukhari...and if you will permit me, I can assist in formulating a strategy to drive these raiders back."

While he spoke, he realized that Grove was missing. No matter. The Kroot must have slipped away into the shadows, hiding from both Imperials and Drukhari alike. The next time they met, they would be enemies, and Trooper 451 felt no reservations in slaying a companion he had fought beside for the last couple of weeks, even if he had aided him in his escape.

For the men of Krieg existed solely to serve the Emperor. And right now, he had a war to win.

Draconian Defenders on Inari

Colonel Ikeda rose from the cupola of his super-heavy Stormblade tank, Tenken, and gazed at the incoming xenos raiders. The Drukhari, or Dark Eldar in low Gothic, had been hitting the settlements of Inari hard and abducting Imperial citizens over the last few months. Initially, they had been discouraged by the presence of the formidable Knights of House Yato, but when the Knight Lance left Inari to pursue other conquests in the Indomitus Crusade, the filthy xenos had become bolder, skimming in their sleek and dark ships to capture slaves for whatever foul purposes they had.

"Sir, leave them to us," Major Mizuno said, directing his driver to drive their Leman Russ Executioner, Taiyou, out. "We'll take care of them."

Accompanying the ancient plasma tank was the regal Rogal Dorn tank, Kabuto, commanded by Sergeant Ritsuo. Rounding out the armored squadron was a Carnodon tank even more ancient than Taiyou, the Kitsunebi. Armed with volkite calivers and a volkite culverin, Kitsunebi apparently dated back to the days of the Great Crusade, rescued from obscurity in the aging hangars of Draconis III and remobilized for the new dark age.

Ahead of them, Major Murakami directed the infantry troops. He was accompanied by the elite grenadiers of the Draconian Defenders, the two ten-men squads of storm troopers clad in carapace armor and armed to the teeth with hellguns and plasma guns. Their uniform hadn't changed even from the days of the Great Crusade or the Horus Heresy, only sporting the Aquila that they had earned when the regiments of Draconis III fought on the side of the Emperor against the arch-traitor Lupercal.

"Okay then," Ikeda agreed. "You know what to do. We've to restart the void shield generators. A massive Chaos warband is coming, and we need those shields up...or we're screwed. There are three power stations. Hold just one of them. We only need to hold one of them for long enough to reactivate the void shields."

"Just one." Mizuno smiled humorlessly. "You heard him, Murakami."

"We'll do our best." The grizzled major waved his men on. The storm troopers were joined by Commissar Lucius, who pointed his plasma pistol forward at the furthest generator. The second squad obeyed, sprinting toward cover and working with the controls. Murakami led the first squad into the closest generator and they began fiddling with the switches to bring the void shields back on.

Sergeant Homura's Kitsunebi rolled to the third station, more to fire its volkite weapons at the Wracks spilling from a racing Raider. Dark lances seared out of the pair of Ravagers that hung back ominously, slamming into Kabuto and dissolving its ablative plating. Kabuto retaliated, Ritsuo barking orders to his gunner. The oppressor cannon roared and tore out a chunk from the first Ravager, sending it spinning, but the ravaged sleek, black ship managed to arrest its descent and hover, smoke fuming from its aft. The multimeltas spat and blew up a racing Venom, with the Kabalite Warriors and the Archon hopping out of the destroyed vehicle and catapulting into the forest with deadly grace.

For some reason, the Cronos hung back with the pair of Ravagers, but for no discernible reason that Mizuno could see. He didn't care and instead fired at the Raider, but it was weaving through the hab-blocks too swiftly for the lascannon to get a hit. Fortunately, the plasma did better, wiping out the surviving Wracks that had survived the volkite bombardment from a frustrated Homura's Carnodon. The Kitsunebi had not fared well, the vollkite beams having failed to incinerate the durable Wracks. The superheated sun-matter of plasma, however, was more than enough to annihilate them.

Not to be outdone, Murakami ordered his troops to focus fire on the Kabalite Warriors that had evacuated the stricken Venom. Before they could open fire, however, a shieldbreaker round from a sniper rifle broke the sound barrier and struck the Archon leading the Kabalite Warriors. It pierced the shimmering forcefield that protected the foul xenos and pulped its head into an explosion of blood and bone fragments. The headless Archon slumped to the ground, dead.

"Hah!" Lucius crowed and waved his plasma pistol in the air. "See that, men of Draconis? No filthy xenos can stand before the might of the Imperium! The Emperor protects, and smites all who opposes His vision for the galaxy. Mankind is ascendent!"

Murakami smiled wryly and glanced back, recalling that a Vindicare Assassin had been dispatched to assassinate the xenos leader. It appeared that he had succeeded, and the silent sniper had snuck back into the shadows. However, the major staggered when a Wrack's hexrifle struck him before they were wiped out by Taiyou. He cursed, even as a grenadier medic rushed up to patch his wounds.

Another volley of exotic energies lanced into Kabuto, and this time the Rogal Dorn tank wasn't able to survive, blowing out in shrapnel and flames. Several of the stormtroopers were cut down, one bisected by a huge shard of metal, while another screamed, his figure on fire before he toppled over.

"No!" Murakami cursed, but he wasn't in any condition to worry about others. Scourges had swooped in at the rear and were firing their dark lances at Taiyou, but to Mizuno's surprise, the ancient tank absorbed the hits without issue, its armor plating withstanding the violent blasts. A stark contrast to the more newly assembled Rogal Dorn tank that was supposed to be tougher than the Leman Russ tanks.

"I suppose there's a reason why the Imperium has been using you for more than ten millennia," Mizuno remarked, stroking the console with a gloved hand and murmuring a prayer to the Emperor.

The Raider descended sharply, with Incubi pouring out of its interior and charging toward the reeling storm troopers. The Grenadiers were cut down, with the Incubi's blades flashing and slashing through them. Murakami tried to rally them, even as he was still dazed by Kabuto's explosion, but he was laid low by one of the dancing Drukhari warriors. The slain Grenadiers and wounded Murakami were avenged seconds later by the volkite from Kitsuebi, with Homura directing his gunner to reinforce the flagging position. The power station was lost to them, and the energy levels indicating the rising void shield flickered off.

Not done yet, Homura ordered his driver to ram the sturdy Carnodon tank into the Raider, almost shearing it in half. Shrieking wildly, the pilot of the Raider dragged its ship out of there, leaving the power station to the venerable Carnodon tank. On the other side, the Scourges continued to pummel Taiyou with little effect, only for one of them to fall to a sniper round from the corner.

The Vindicare Assassin hadn't yet quit the battlefield. Victor Vincento lined up another Scourge up in his shots.

The listing Ravager tried to fire at the surviving grenadiers who had hunkered down in the power station, and three men were vaporized. The other Ravager failed to hit Kitsunebi, whose driver was speeding around the cover of the power station and avoiding the angry disintegrating lances. The Venom then charged the stunned storm troopers. While one of them went down, the rest began hammering away at the hull with their power swords, and Sergeant Shirakawa scored a glowing hit across its surface.

Forced to fall back, they watched the volkite beams incinerate the Kabalite Warriors that poured out of the Venom, which was destroyed by the Executioner plasma destroyer. Meanwhile, Murakami finally got rid of the Scourges at the rear with well-placed plasma shots from the sponson cannons. Unfortunately, the lascannon missed the evasive Raider once more. Frustrated, he yelled at his driver.

"Ram the damned thing!"

Even though the Raider escaped the lascannon, it wasn't able to avoid a violent colission from the Leman Russ Executioner. It spun to the ground, still intact somehow, but it wasn't going to be flying anywhere soon.

Not that it mattered, for the Raiders and Ravagers had lined up their dark lances and were annihilating Shirakawa's squad. As the grenadiers fell around him, Commissar Lucius stood alone, defiant and spitting fury with his plasma pistol raised to the air.

"For the Emperor!" He roared even as the final volley of dark lances from the Raider hurtled toward him. To his surprise, they dissipated over his refractor shield. The protective bubble sizzled and popped, but held the devastating lance at bay. Feeling his face blistger, Lucius stubbornly hammered at the controls.

The void shield flickered on, finally gaining enough power. Denied the prize, the two remaining Ravagers did an about turn and glided away silently, the last one still listing badly and far behind its companion. The Cronos that accompanied also wheeled around and lumbered after its masters, having no reason to linger.

The Imperial Guard had driven out the xenos raiders and reactivated the void shields, but just barely. Lucius spat at them, made the sign of the aquila, then fell.

*

Unfortunately, there was no rest for the weary. Not long after the void shield had been reactivated, augur reports from the fleet above reported a massive Chaos warband in bound. Hitting the ground in drop pods, Khorne Berzerkers spilled out and charged across the battlefield at the dug in Guardsmen and tanks, screaming incoherently. Beside them marched Plague Marines, their bloated bodies surrounded by flies. Havocs locked into place, hoisting their lascannons and missile launchers, while bikers zoomed across the hab blocks, their machines spouting acrid fumes into the air. A Rhino continued hurtling forward, its cargo of Legionnaires strapped in firmly.

Leading the charge was a Daemon Prince, accompanied by a second squad of Legionnaires. His monstrous form loomed over the battlefield, his wings spread out as he soared above his minions.

Meeting them in the battlefield was the armored might of the Draconian Defenders. Even as two squads of elite grenadiers sprinted through the woods, using the trees as cover while the still injured Major Murakami barked orders - the bloodsoaked bandages still visible underneath his carapace armor, three Leman Russ Executioner tanks lumbered forward, escorting Colonel Ikeda's Tenken. Major Mizuno had rejoined the battle with his battered but still intact Taiyou, while Shine, Shogun's Will and the Carnodon tank, Kitsunebi, trailed behind his tank. Further back, Captain Kaneda led a platoon of infantry to take position behind a barricade, their lasguns, plasma guns, meltaguns and sniper rifles mounted atop crenellations while waiting for the enemy to come within range.

The sheer sight of the Chaos Marines hurtling toward them like an unstoppable tide was intimidating. The Warlord leading the Berzerkers' charge raised his axe and bellowed a challenge.

The tanks opened up.

Plasma lit up the night sky, streams of superheated matter sailing through the air and detonating violently in the midst of legionnaires. Half a squad was wiped out, their power armor unable to withstand the fury of a star. The entire line of Khorne Berzerkers, including their Warlord, was erased from existence, transformed into smoking vapor by the plasma blastgun mounted upon Colonel Ikeda's Tenken, the Stormblade super-heavy tank rolling forward to meet the power armor charge with thousands of tons of metal and ceramite. Volkite incinerated a couple of Plague Marines, but the rest strolled through the flames like they were nothing. The lascannons raked the Daemon Prince, who staggered from the ferocious salvos, despite the blessings of his dark gods protecting him. His wings were ripped away by ruby las-beams, but what truly finished him off was a well placed shot from a Rogal Dorn tank's Oppressor cannon.

Ryuuken, the replacement Rogal Dorn tank that was commanded by Sergeant Ryuuji, had delivered the kill shot, slaying the abomination with prayers, discipline and precision.

Four Havocs were killed, their missiles detonating from the sheer heat as plasma engulfed them. Plague Marines fell to plasma and hot-shot las, the storm troopers meeting them in the middle and overwhelming them with small-arms fire.

A second squad of Havocs retaliated a few moments later, their four lascannons coring open the Leman Russ Executioner, Shine. Supported by teleporting Obliterators whose fleshmetal weapons transformed into melta cannons, they were able to blow Shine up. The bikers zoomed forward, raking the lines of grenadiers with storm bolter fire. Teleporting alongside them were burly Chaos Terminators, whose combi-bolters annihilated Murakami's entourage, leaving the beleaguered major alone. Further to his side, storm troopers were falling to bolt rounds and plague weapons from the indomitable Plague Marines, either succumbing to disease or blown apart by insidious shells.

"Feth!" Ikeda swore. Within moments, it appeared as if his regiment was going to be routed. The Heretic Astartes were truly a fearsome foe, shrugging off las and small arms fire. Only the tanks' heavy weapons had any chance of wounding them. He was hoping to eradicate them before they could reach his men's lines, but the slaughter of his elite grenadiers exposed his naivety. He studied the console, trying to come up with countermeasures. Turning to his gunner, he yelled, "Target those Havocs! Those bearing the damned lascannons! Right now!"

"Yes, sir!"

The plasma blastgun boomed again, vaporizing the hab block that the Havocs had sought refuge in. The heavy bolters spat and took down another few legionnaires, but the lascannons missed the weaving Rhino, the marine driver cunning enough to use the surrounding hab blocks as cover.

To the rear, the infantry platoon wore down the Obliterators through sheer weight of las and plasma, but one survived, roaring as it trampled toward them...only to disintegrate under a blast from Mizuno's Leman Russ Executioner. Taiyou had traversed its turret to fire plasma at the wounded beast. To the side, though, the Shogun's Will and Kitsunebi took out the bikers and Plague Marines with plasma and volkite. The Plague Marines continued to shrug off all but the most devastating of wounds, the disgustingly resilient abominations reaching out to annihilate the last of the Grenadiers. The volkite had done devastating wounds to them, though, leaving just two Plague Marines out of an original squad of ten. A single biker was left after his comrades were decimated by the plasma cannons from the Shogun's Will, swinging his chainsword and cutting down Murakami.

The slow, plodding Terminators, however, found their path barred by Ryuuken. The Rogal Dorn tank unleashed its fury upon the walking tanks, and anti-tank weaponry such as multimeltas, meltaguns and the oppressor cannon were enough to exterminate even the sturdiest of Heretic Astartes.

Realizing that they were losing far too many troops to heavy armor, the legionnaires spilled out of the Rhino and charged Tenken, hoping to put a dent on its armor. Melta, plasma and other weapons peeled off armor from the wounded beast, and chainswords slashed paint off the adamantium hull. The Carnodon tank took a penetrating hit from the surviving Havoc's missile launcher and the crew was sent reeling. Accompanied by a Sorcerer, who was surrounded by empyric energies as he cast spells to pummel the blessed plating of the Stormblade, they ascended to greater heights of violence, their bodies swelling from powers from the warp. As if one final display of defiance, they tore into the super-heavy tank in a frenzy, hoping to bring the steel behemoth down.

Ikeda was about to order retaliation and roll over the legionnaires with the tank's adamantium tracks, but to his surprise, the Heretic Astartes withdrew in short order. At first, a total darkness enveloped the battlefield, fouling auspexes and other sensory equipment. Their vision blinded by pitch blackness, the Draconians fumbled about for a moment, yelling in panic and tersely getting everything back in order. By the time they switched the floodlights back on to illuminate the now dark city, they saw that their foes were gone. All that was left were the corpses of the slain, husks of ruined power and terminator armor callously left behind by those they had once called brother. Of the surviving Heretic Astartes, not one remained. Whisked away by whatever foul powers they had pledged their fealty too, they had vanished from the battlefield as suddenly as they had appeared.

"What in Holy Terra just happened?" Mizuno demanded, stunned. Then he cleared his throat. "Sir."

"I have no idea," Ikeda admitted, studying the auspex. By the Emperor, the berserk charge of those legionnaires had almost torn his Stormblade to shreds. Well, aided by a few well-placed melta shots, of course. Even so, it was a near miss, but he was confident of annihilating them had the battle continued. He still had at least four tanks at his disposal, not including his own Tenken.

"The archenemy works in mysterious ways and have engimatic agendas we are better off not knowing," Sergeant Ryuuji muttered.

"I don't know about that," Sergeant Homura objected. "Knowledge is power...and if we don't know what these traitors are scheming, we wouldn't be able to put a stop to it."

"Well, for now we should fall back and repair and recuperate," Ikeda said. He nodded to the Tech-priest Enginseer that was enacting hasty repairs to Tenken. Magos Rho-Theta was a godsend. "I'll be counting on you to bring our tanks back up to full health, Magos. We don't know when the next attack is coming, but by the Emperor, we'll be ready for it."

Defense of Inari

"These Traitor dudes really want the planet back, don't they?" I muttered as I watched the Chaos warband descend upon our newly settled town in dreadclaws and drop pods. Contrails of fire seared across the one sapphire skies as the Archenemy's troops blasted down toward the now scorched earth in legions. "They just won't give up."

"It's totally fine, Tanaka," Lord Takeda growled. "No matter how many times the heretics come back here, we'll crush them again and again. As many times as we need them to. Even the fearsome Astartes are no match for the formidable power of our armored steeds."

I honestly thought he shouldn't underestimate the foe, but when you were riding a 9-meter suit made of adamantine out into the battlefield, impervious to all but the strongest anti-tank weaponry, I suppose you could be forgiven for getting complacent. Especially in this new age of the Indomitus Crusade and the resurgence of a legend - the Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman, and Primarch of the vaunted Ultramarines Chapter. Under his charge, most felt that there was nothing in this galaxy that could stop the dominion of Mankind.

However, watching the forces of Chaos arrayed before us, I wasn't sure.

"More importantly," Kanda said, urging his Errant patterned Questoris suit, Engetsu, to the front. "We're going to need those supplies from the Munitorum. Those traitors have landed near the supplies, probably to grab them from us."

"Then we'll pulverize them and snatch the supplies back," Takeda ordered. Already, his Cerastus Knight Lancer, Naginata, was loping toward the enemy. Its shock lance crackled with esoteric energies that discharged in forks of lightning that strobed toward an unfortunate band of cultists and fried half of them. "Knights of House Yato, charge!"

Being an Unyielding Paragon, Kanda bellowed orders upon his two retainers, Sato and Watanabe. While Engetsu barreled forward, its titanic form was escorted by Kaen and Tsurugi, their thermal spears sputting out bright lances of superheated rays that punched through the Rhino that was swerving behind a hab block for cover. The transport went up in flames, the Chosen within evacuating from the stricken vehicle. Kanda followed up with a volley of Stormspear missiles that detonated in the ranks of bounding Possessed, reducing two of them to bags of meat. His thermal spear struck a Helbrute, but it teetered and remained standing somehow.

I followed up from behind, guiding Kazan's volcano lance toward the Predator Annihilator rumbling from behind to provide fire-ranged support. An incandescent beam vaporized the battle tank, flipping it into its side and turning it into slag. The siegebreaker cannons on Kazan's shoulders bellowed, hurling rounds into mobs of Cultists and pulping them into blood and fragments of bone. Rotating the Dominus Knight Castellan at the torso, I triggered its plasma decimator with my haptic gloves and hosed the Chosen that had spilled out from the plague Rhino with superheated matter, disintegrating at least two of them.

The edgy warband, far from discouraged at the vicious losses they had suffered, continued screaming forward. The Chosen, led by a Master of Execution, hurled themselves at Tsurugi, their accursed weapons and axes hammering against the buckling form of the desperately retreating Armiger Warglaive. Watanabe fought his way out, but their daemonic weapons had bitten chunks of adamantium out of his stumbling steed.

Meanwhile, Cultists led by a Dark Commune and bloated with power from their dark gods slammed into Suzuki's Hebi. Unfortunately, something seemed to be happening there. While the Dark Commune, uh, communed with their twisted gods, the fell powers appeared to curse them instead. Something went horribly wrong, and a few of their Cultists screamed as they were dragged into some warp portal that opened up in one of their bodies. Suzuki didn't hesitate to cut the survivors down with his reaper chain-cleaver, scattering them.

Though the mortal followers were decimated, their Heretic Astartes masters continued undaunted. A Forgefiend clambered from behind the wrecked Predator Annihator and fired its triple ectoplasma cannons, dealing devastating damage to my Kazan from range. The ion shields winked out in lethal effect and I was thrown about in my Throne Mechanicum as the ensorcelled blasts ate away at the venerable armor of my suit, burning away blessed runes and adamantium alike. The Helbrutes rushed forward, one of them scorching Naginata with flames, but the promethium did little more than blacken the paint. The Chosen tried to clear the slopes as they fired their plasma pistols at Takeda's Knight Lancer, but despite melting off parts, they were unable to bring down the towering walker. Their charge was also slowed by the steep terrain, and they weren't able to descend all the way down.

The other Helbrute fired at Kazan, its lascannon and missiles hammering at the Dominus Knight Castellan and failing to deal any considerable amount of damage. The Cultists continued to hound Hebi, but Suzuki deftly slashed them apart, while the Possessed continued striding forward with snarls that sent chills down my spine.

Those hideous noises weren't something humans or even transhumans could make. I didn't know what the Marines of the Edgelord Warband had done or what pacts they had made with the fell powers, but they had succumbed to Chaos far more than any fanatic I had witnessed before.

We rallied and fought back as best as we could. Watanabe retreated from the Chosen and Master of Executions, and I stepped in, bathing the entire hab block in plasma and vaporizing them. The siegebreaker cannons roared again, finishing off the last of the Cultist mob in front of me, while my volcano lance was deflected from whatever daemonic shield that the Forgefiend had. I bit back a curse, frustrated at my failure to destroy it.

Kanda stepped up to the job, though, his Stormspear missiles sizzling forward to crash into the Possessed and reducing their number further. His thermal cannon thundered, and the Forgefiend finally vaporized in a searing blast of melta. The hull-mounted meltagun also managed to take out a Possessed. Sato followed up by damaging the Helbrutes with bursts of melta before he charged into the Possessed and engaged them in melee.

Meanwhile, Takeda charged in and rammed into the Chosen and the Chaos Lord they were escorting, stomping on two of them and killing them outright. He wielded his shock lance with superlative skill, scoring another few kills while the other Chosen scattered. Ingrained with millennia or at least centuries of experience, the Chosen weren't going down without a fight, even before a vaunted Knight armor. They hacked away at exposed joints and servos, getting under the ion gauntlet shield that Takeda deftly raised to defend Naginata, and slowly but surely bringing the titanic walker down. The Daimyo refused to go down without a fight and lashed out with his shock lance, pulverizing another Chosen.

By then, Suzuki had finally finished off the last remnants of the Cultists. The surviving Dark Commune had attempted to draw upon the power of the warp further, but tentacles burst out of a vortex and dragged a couple of screaming attendants into nothingness. Not at all sympathetic, Hebi cleaved the remaining Dark Commune apart with the revving chain-cleaver.

"That's what you deserve after trucking with foul powers!" He gloated triumphantly, only to curse when a new entourage of Possessed pounced on his flailing Armiger Warglaive. "What on Holy Terra?! Where did you come from!?"

"From around the hab block," I told him through the vox.

"Why didn't you warn me earlier!?"

"Because I'm busily deflecting shots from the Helbrutes?" I replied. Only to realize my error when the lascannon blast seared past Kazan and instead slammed into Tsurugi, which was falling back. Watanabe tried to rotate his ion shield, but failed to raise them in time, and Tsurugi fell, crumpling as a wreck. Watanabe swore as he scrambled out of his Helm Mechanicum, but it appeared that Tsurugi had passed its out of action test and wouldn't be getting a battle scar.

"Phew. The damage isn't too severe." Watanabe breathed a sigh of relief. "The sacristans should be able to repair Tsurugi back to full without too much difficulty."

The Possessed had all but fallen to Kaen's reaper chain-cleaver, and only the Master of Possession was left, dancing about. The Chosen and Chaos Lord continued to harass Naginata from the sides and unexpected angles, but the Cerastus Knight Lancer refused to fall.

"Get off me, you vermin!" Takeda yelled as he swung the cerastus shock lance about, cracking it against another few Chosen. They unrelentingly harried at him despite their losses, their accursed weapons glowing with emypric energies that widened the cracks in his armor and worsened his suit's movements. Runes flared as they resisted the encroaching warp energies, but it was clear that Naginata was weakening.

We had to help him.

Kanda already had the bright idea, moving Engetsu up to assist. His thermal cannon spat another incandescent lance that sliced off the Helbrute's lascannon, but it didn't fall and instead continued hurling missiles at us despite half of its body being reduced to a charred, molten husk. Sato fell back from the Master of Possession after suffering a grievous blow, but despite leaving a massive gouge across Kaen's front, the damage had come at a cost. The Master of Possession had bargained with dark gods beyond his comprehension and paying the price for it. He was screaming as his flesh rippled and rebelled, his figure transmutating, but with an incredible force of will, he clamped down on the warp energies and maintained his human form for now. Even so, that moment of agony had bought Sato a reprieve, allowing him to escape.

I shifted my aim and took out the other Helbrute with a volcano lance, only for it to detonate forcefully, the shrapnel burying deep into the first Helbrute's sacrophagus and slaying it. A massive shard of metal stabbed the unfortunate Master of Possession while he was still recovering from the agonizing, transmutative energies of the warp, and he toppled unmovingly, his body bisected messily. Another Chosen staggered, buffeted by the shockwave, and Takeda seized the chance to stomp on him.

With a rallying cry, Naginata swept its shock lance across the reeling Chosen and annihilated them. Even the Chaos Lord was unable to avoid getting run through by the shock lance, his power armor crumpling as the titanic weapon pierced through his body and reduced him to a bloody ruin.

"This is utter bullshit!" The Chaos Lord screamed as he writhed on the tip of the crackling spear. He gripped the length with his scorched gauntlets. "I'm never going to challenge a lance of Knights again! At least not for another two months!"

Then, with a crack, he vanished back into the warp, saved by whatever twisted patrons he had pledged his fealty to.

That left the Possessed that was still harrying Hebi. Somehow, Suzuki had managed to slay the second Master of Possession and forced the Possessed to a retreat. I fired shells and plasma at them, erasing them from existence, and...suddenly, the battlefield was eerily silent.

"Well, that...went better than expected." I swallowed, looking around and half-expecting more frenzied Cultists to spill out from nowhere.

"Hah! We are Honored now!" Takeda raised the shock lance of Naginata wearily. "We have achieved the goal of slaying the enemy leader and exterminated the heretics! In the Emperor's name!"

Now that he mentioned it, I could feel Kazan being invigorated, the belicose machine spirit purring from the reactor and slowly healing the damage it had sustained from the Forgefiend, as well as the hazardous blowback from me overusing the plasma decimator.

"Yes, it seems we've defended Inari successfully," Kanda agreed, exhausted, as Engetsu lumbered toward the limping Naginata. "But my lord, I just received dire news from Kajira above."

Oh, right. The Emperor-class battleship and its escorts had remained in orbit above Inari while we began the colonization process.

"Right. I've received it too." Takeda sounded grim. "We might have beaten off the archenemy, but it appears that the Imperial Navy has registered an approaching Waaagh! on their augurs. The greenskins have arrived in this system in force, and they're heading directly for this world."