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This is my first attempt at a short story, an almost extract as it were, describing one part of an otherwise huge battle.

Valour is a large Forge World within the Segmentum Obscurus. This Forge World produces massive amounts of armaments to Cadia and other planets throughout the Segmentum. Valour is a densely populated planet with a population of around 150 million. The people on Valour are largely content with their lives, pleased to be of Service to the Mechanicum and the Emperor, as well as the Adeptus Astartes Chapter, the Angels of Vindication.

Angels of Vindication are a successor chapter of the Dark Angels whose home world is that of Valour. The Space Marines are based within the Northern hemisphere of the planet and recruit from the population and provide security and protection. The Angels of Vindication are a well armed and heavily mechanised Chapter who prefer ranged combat to the brutality of close quarters. Unlike the Dark Angels and their successor chapters however, the Angels of Vindication do not actively hunt The Fallen, as they perceive in order to redeem and vindicate themselves, they should protect the Imperium and its citizens, rather than hunting the Fallen, as a means of achieving Vindication.

The Fall of Valour describes the assault on the Angels of Vindication Chapter itself, the arch-traitors of the Black Legion attacking the local system and Valour itself. This, The Fall Of Valour, describes the onslaught by the Black Legionnaires and the heroic defence of the Angels of Vindication in a conflict that ultimately costs them over half of their Chapter.

The extract I shall write is from the Battle of Porport, as the [some of the] Angels of Vindication and the Skitarii try to hold the line to allow the city of Porport enough time to evacuate its citizens.


Luc Vivordon - Lord Vivordon as his followers would call him - stepped down the assault ramp of his Land Raider. The heavy footsteps of his power armour rendered mute by the roaring sound of battle around him, the Land Raider's own Heavy Bolters roaring above him, sending a veritable storm of mass-reactive rounds into the defenders, as if signalling the death of all who stood in his way. Vivordon's retinue spread out around him, adding their own fire to the fray as they advanced directly towards the Angels of Vindication. Warriors from both sides were cut down in the hurricane of death and destruction that was the battlefield, as the Black Legion sought to engage the enemy in close combat and choke the life from the followers of the False God, just as Horus had done to the Emperor himself.

The dim purple interior of the Land Raider give Luc Vivordon a deathly, violet silhouette, making him seem more like a demi-god of death than a human. To most, in fact, he was a demi-god of death. Today, now, he was a demi-god of death, about to rip out the heart of the Angels of Vindication, like a spear-tip of Chaos itself. He strode forwards, his pale black wings curled behind his back as he moved ever closer to the enemy positions. In his left hand he casually held a Bolt Pistol, relaxed at his side, it's explosive shells yet to be released from their chamber, its edges blackened through many thousands of years of war. In his right hand he held a wicked sword, extended parallel to his side, adding to the already terrifying image he portrayed, as many Skitarii fled in terror. The sword - a Daemon Weapon in fact - was a huge, straight, blade, almost the length of a human. It's edges were reversed, curled spikes, further adding to both his terrifying image and it's own lethality, ripping out the innards of a victim when pulled from their flesh. The blade was capable of eviscerating men in a single stroke and capable puncturing both hearts of an Astartes, when driven through their chest. Vivordon held the blade in his bare hand, his gauntlet removed so he could better wield the weapon and experience the pleasure of death and the extinction of life. The blade had dark, almost abysmal centre with a vibrant purple glow that pulsed alongside Vivordon's own heartbeat. The pommel was a glowing turquoise jewel that shimmered off his black armour and held the daemon captured within the blade, fuelling the weapons lethality and allowing the dark god Slaanesh to experience the ecstasy of battle itself.

The Black Legion of Vivordon and his retinue broke into a run, rushing at the Angels of Vindication's position with speed faster than that of any man or even most Space Marines, Vivordon's pale, translucent wings outstretched beside him. Just behind him his retinue also charged forwards, their black and gold-trimmed armour deflecting the shots fired at them. Some simply ran headlong towards the Angels of Vindication, their jaws open or vox's screaming cries of excitement and exhilaration. Others moved and fired, their bolt pistols exploding within the flesh and machine of the skitarii, sending the corpses of the Mechanicum-soldiers falling onto the rubble they believed could protect them, their bodies and limbs burst open like some gross mutation from where the round had exploded within them.

To Vivordon and his retinue's flanks the battle was reaching its peak. The opposing forces closing in on one-another as the entrenched defenders desperately sought to repel the Traitor Marines and Renegade Guardsmen that were soon to reach their lines. Vivordon focused on his own priorities however, staring ahead of him as he ran, eating up the short amount of ground left between him and the enemy. There, before him, he saw the enemy he sought to reach, the Angels of Vindication. Their pale, bone-like and brown armour dented and burnt from the battle and exchange of deadly fire. Their bodies clustered behind the rubble that was once a home, the rubble that would soon be their graves, the rubble that they had so far used to further shield them. The rubble that would soon provide little advantage or protection once the glowing blade in Vivordon's right hand had reached them. Then, then death would envelop the intervening squad of Angels like the Eye of Terror itself and then Vivordon could face his counterpart, Lord Marius. Lord Marius, the Chapter Master of the Angels of Vindication.

Five Assault Terminators - deadly close combat veterans - were all that stood between him and Lord Marius, who he knew would be just behind them, surrounded by his own Terminator-armoured retinue at the heart of the the Imperial Defence. The heart that Vivordon would crush the life out of in his own, bare hand. When just five metres away from the Terminator Squad of the Angels of Vindication, Lord Vivordon's outstretched wings came to life, surrounded by a faint glow of indigo, that also throbbed alongside his own heart beat, the pulse of his blade and the flap of his wings. Almost instantly after they started to move, Vivordon's wings propelled him over the mound of rubble and straight into the opposing Terminators, the velocity and propulsion adding to the power of his genetically enhanced body, the power of his daemon-imbued sword, and the power of Chaos, the power of Slaanesh. Vivordon flew into the nearest terminator with such speed and force that his sword ripped through the supposedly invulnerable and ancient armour, the jagged blade erupting from the back of the warrior with a flash of purple and a spray of red, landing with his left knee upon the now-dead warriors chest and his right hand clenching the sword that had punctured through the Space Marines sternum. Vivordon - before any of the other Terminators or even his own retinue could properly react - twisted the blade with a crunch of bone and ripped it back out, splitting the warriors chest open with a snap of fused ribs and a rush of blood. The warm arterial fluid sprayed onto Vivordon's own chest and armour, the blood trickling, warm and sensuous, onto his bare hand, as if he could feel the life of the battle and death of an Angel itself.

Vivordon quickly stepped back from the kill, the enemy slightly stunned by such brutality and the horrific death of their Sergeant. But these weren't any ordinary enemy, they were veteran super-human Space Marines, equipped with the finest armour and weaponry within the galaxy. Four more stood before him, two of them clutching massive Thunder Hammers and glowing shields, from which a light blue sheen reflected off their bone-coloured armour. The other two Terminators were each armed with a pair of deadly lightning claws, twin sets of blades that replaced their fists and crackled with the force of lightning itself, easily capable of ripping through Vivordon's own armour as if it wasn't there. One of the pair equipped with the fearsome claws swung at Vivordon just as he stepped back, the Chaos Lord rolling forwards under the attack with frightening speed, swinging his sword out as he exited the roll. The blade sliced against the exposed rear of the Terminators leg, cutting through the weak spot behind it's knee, his enemy stumbling away with a grunt of pain. As he stood back up another Terminator turned to face him, it's enormous hammer clutched in one hand and glowing with a blue tint that merely hinted at the colossal power contained within. Vivordon lunged to the enemy's left, his blade scraping harmlessly off the warriors shield, however, Vivordon had now positioned himself to the left of the Angel of Vindication, too close for it to bring the head his hammer to bear against him. He trust his sword up towards his enemies throat, but the veteran lean backwards, the blade digging into the thick armour of the shoulder guard instead of the warrior's skull. The Terminator brought his own weapon down, the hilt of the hammer striking against the Chaos Champion's helmet, Vivordon staggered away, within reach of the giant's massive hammer, but out of reach of the Terminator who's leg he had wounded.

The Chaos Lord's own retinue had now engaged the combat, just as Vivordon ducked under a swing from the hammer, the energy contained within it causing static within his visor as he rolled underneath the attack. Recovering, Vivordon saw the head of one of the four remaining terminators explode in a ball of fire, as if a small sun had just been created where the warrior's head had been a second ago, Vivordon's own helmet compensating from the glare created by the superheated ball of plasma. The terminator dropped to it's knee's, it's mighty hammer and shield falling from it's hands, a smoking crater where the Angel of Vindication's head had once been. It was now six against three; four of Vivordon's retinue having been cut down as they charged from the Land Raider. Vivordon himself faced off against the only remaining Angel clutching a thunder hammer and storm shield, whilst his men fought against the pair equipped with deadly claws. A burst of bolter shells bounced off one of the Terminator's armour as it stepped forward and impaled a Black Legionnaire upon his deadly gauntlets, the traitors blood gushing out from the grievous wound and running down the bone-yellow armour of his assailant. Meanwhile the Terminator's companion swung vicious attacks at the other traitors, one of them falling to wounds cut across his chest whilst another blocked the attack with his power fist before unleashing a flurry of explosives from his bolt pistol into the Angel of Vindication's Terminator armour.

Vivordon himself was probing at the impressive defence displayed by the Terminator with the huge shield. His every attack and thrust being blocked by either the shield or thick armour, only to be answered with a swing from the powerful, crackling hammer, merely needing a single, well-placed strike to end the Chaos Champion's millennia-long life forever. The Chaos Space Marine with the plasma gun strafed to Vivordan's side and squeezed the trigger of the deadly weapon, the glowing plasma gun almost as deadly as the Angel's massive hammer. The plasma core glowed a bright orange and the barrel shone like the thruster of a Battle Barge. The Terminator raised it's shield and the superheated shot exploded against the Angel of Vindications block, defending the veteran from the power of a small sun. However, this was all that Vivordan needed, he lunged forwards, his dark wing's propelling him into the air. Vivordan kicked the Terminator's shield to one side and unleashed a hail of bolt shells into the veterans helmet, emptying the magazine in moment. But still the Angel of Vindication stood, broken but not beaten, stalwart in his defence of the Imperium. The veteran swung his hammer out in blind retaliation, managing to hit the traitor equipped with the plasma gun, sending the warrior flying with a pained scream over the rubble from which he had attacked, chest torn open from the blow. However, the traitors distraction had assisted Vivordan once again. Hovering, wings flapping, slightly above the Terminator with it's blackened and smoking helm, Vivordan dropped his bolt pistol and landed on the warriors shoulders. Using his free hand, Vivordan's black gauntlet wrenched the Terminators helm to once side, exposing the soft armour underneath. Vivordan drove his sword through the veterans neck, the daemon-weapon easily cutting through the soft armour and decapitating the warrior. The dead Angel of Vindication collapsed in a bundle, both the weight of the terminator armour and Vivordan crouching on top of the shoulders causing the dead warrior to crash to the floor, the veteran's decapitated helm still in Vivordan's left hand, vibrant red blood trickling spots of colour onto the stone floor.

Vivordan turned to his retinue, of which only three remained. Grimaldus, one of Vivordan's best soldiers and lieutenant, was standing over the body of one of the fallen Terminator's, his golden powerfist stained with the blood of an Angel whose chest he had crushed and arm he had ripped off. During the fight, Grimaldus had ripped the veteran's arm off with his mighty powerfist and used his boot to pin the Terminator's only remaining arm down whilst he crushed it's chest with his glowing-golden fist, like some gruesome image of a child holding a doll in it's hand. Meanwhile, the two remaining members of Vidordan's retinue were swinging and thrusting their energised power-swords at the remaining Terminator. The Angel of Vindication's bone-yellow armour was stained with his own blood, gushing from a multitude of wounds all over his body. Whilst the pair were gradually ending the warriors life, letting him bleed out from a mass of injuries that even the genetically enhanced blood of a Space Marine couldn't clot. Vivordan strode towards the struggling Terminator, his midnight-black sword stained with red and almost alive with a pulse of purple light from it's energised blade. Vivordan walked up behind the Angel of Vindication, the only remaining member of it's squad, and thrust his sword through the warriors spine, the blade slicing through both of the Space Marine's hearts which caused a mass of blood to run down the blade of the glowing sword, the red fluid mixing the purple glow creating an almost pink hue to the weapon.

Vivordan stepped to the side and twisted the veteran off his glowing-pink blade and let the dead Terminator drop face first onto the ground, ground which was now stained with red, sharply contrasting to the bone-yellow of the loyalist armour and dull grey of the rubble.

Vivordan turned as the building behind him collapsed, from it's debris roared a Land Raider, its bone-yellow and light-brown colouring marking it out as belonging to the Angels of Vindication. It weapons barked a frightening crescendo, the Heavy Bolters on it's front and the Lascannon Sponsons on it's sides ripping into the advancing Black Legion. However, the massive battle tank was too close to be able to target Vivordan and his retinue. The huge fortress of destruction - as much a bastion of defence as a battle tank - ground forwards, stopping little more than 10 metres in front of the Chaos Space Marine Lord. The assault ramp of the vehicle dropped open with a loud 'crunch' of broken masonry and 'clang' of metal, from the Land Raider's glowing yellow interior strode an Angel of Vindication, again, protected by a huge suit of Terminator armour, followed by four others. The lead Terminator's Storm Bolter fired a burst of explosive shells which ripped Grimaldus off his feet, his chest and face having exploded in a shower of blood and gore. The lead Terminator lowered his smoking weapon, and Vivordan recognised the un-armoured face of the warrior.

Lord Marius. The Chapter Master of the Angels of Vindication and the one who's death would signify the fall of Valour.


Well, I Hope You Enjoyed It. Comments Welcome.

Cheers, Dave.