Report of the Skirmish at Shimmering Ridge.

From: Shas’El Sa’Cea Vita

To: Shas’O Sa’Cea Myar

Hail Shas’O! The following is a transcript of the events against the Gue’Las”Adeptus Astartes” and the vile Orks at Shimmering Ridge.

We were out on reconnaissance around the city of Vio’Te when we got the order to retrieve a defect stealth drone that had been gathering intelligence on the Ork settlements in the northern areas of the region. The drone had for unknown reasons gone down in the craggy areas around the Uriah stretch.

My force was just myself, Shas’Ui Sa’Cea Yriel and the Hammerhead 388. We contacted the local Fio’Vre mining overseer and requested some of the Shas’La defenders charged with their defense. The Fio’Vre gave his assent and their Shas’Ui sent me 18 of his finest Shas’Las (a list of commendations will be filed together with this report). Both I and Ui’Yriel were in XV8’s with a load out of Missile pods, Plasma rifles and Multitrackers, our Hammerhead was equipped with a rail gun and a smart missile system. With the fire warriors already on the way to the crash site we decided to make haste there. The XV8 suit made good speed over the rocky ground and it took us around 2 decs to get to our rendezvous. We met up with the fire warriors and started to scan the terrain for the lost drone. All we knew was that it were somewhere within a few miles from us.

When we had scanned for a short while we detected an inbound force of unknown origin, I sent Ui’Yriel to evaluate the situation. I followed his progress on a part of my screen as I kept up searching for the drone. I got a signal a few minutes later and sped towards it, hoping to extract it before our yet unseen foe could detect our presence. However a few hundred feet short of my goal I came under attack by a force we had not yet detected and I had to fall back.
 
At about the same time Ui’Yriel found his pray, an Ork warband, it was relatively small compared to most other patrols we’ve seen. It had a large ork with extensive bionic surgery, if you can call the crude metal limbs “bionic” (see attached pictframe) nothing close to the grace of our counterparts. Along with this “Bigmek” were several heavily armed Orks, this as well is rather uncommon (not to find armed orks, but that they were mainly armed with ranged weaponry) along was also a very large group of what we have come to know as “grots” or “gretchin” armed with small arms.
But most notable was that they had a brought a large walking contraption, slightly similar to our own battlesuits in idea but far off in execution. This was a lumbering hulk of metal with crude buzz saws or claws on the end of each arm a thin slit in the visor instead of our sensor systems and a total lack of ranged firepower. It also stood several feet taller than even a broadside fully armed and equipped. Ui’Yriel managed to get close enough go get auditory information without these orks noticing him (Personal Note: Ui’Yriel might be suitable for a trial in an XV25 battlesuit), he heard them refer to the machine as a “Deff Dread”.
 
Knowing that at least two other forces were closing in on the objective I saw no other option than to prepare for battle, I placed the forces at my disposal in a firing line covering as much of the rocky valley floor as possible, we know from where the orks were coming so we managed to set up in a way that covered ourselves but left them at our rifles mercy. Myself and Ui’Yriel setup covering against our hereto unknown assailant with 388 setting up behind our forces.
 
As we lay there waiting for our foes to make it to the battle field, I sent out a small scout drone to find out more about the other force. I took some time to get there and the signal was not all that good in-between the rocky outcrops. What it found was the “Adeptus Astartes” or “Space Marines” as the Gue’La call them. They had red armor with black trimming (note: this has been found to belong to the Blood Angel sept, or “chapter” as the Gue’La say). There were around 15 of them; one of them had an entirely black armor. They also had a similar machine to the orks, But this one was armed with the ranged weaponry they call a “Heavy Bolter”.
 
I had the drone return and waited for the battle to commence, I had already decided that it would be easier to stay out of sight until the orks and space marines had battled themselves, and then clear the remainders. I hoped that the Gue’La thought that I was just a scout, and so would pay us little heed faced with the ork threat.
 
I had thought that they were just out on routine patrols but they seemed to move right towards the drone with too much accuracy. I know full well that we cannot let such advanced technology fall into neither Ork nor Gue’La hands, so I understood that we could not just let the enemy move unopposed to our drone. With a signal through the comm-net I had 388 fire a solid shot right into the Deff Dread, assuming the tank could handle it I and Ui’Yriel pumped plasma shots and missiles into the Dreadnought. All the fire warriors were told to open fire into the long ranged orks.
 
While I trust in the wargear that the Fio supplies us with I could not other than be disappointed even though between us we scored several hits on the Dreadnought all of them failed to even slow the beast. 388 did not fare much better, the slug hit solidly but the ammunition must have been defective because when the cloud of the hit evaporated, the ork inside the Deff Dread was clearly laughing! Either it had gone mad, or it felt all strong, having just stood against one of the strongest weapons in our arsenal. So not only had we completely failed to damage our opponents, we had made them notice us as a part of the battle. However the Shas’La truly proved their worth, slaying one of the orks and wounding the others badly. Even though their shots seemed to be halted and deflected by some strange force.
 
Both the Dreadnought and the Deff Dread decided that even though we might not have killed them yet, it was not a chance to be taken again both of them started heading towards our lines and I knew that we were going to have to stop them before they hit us. The enemies’ infantry seemed less interested in us and started shooting at each other, both forces heading towards the other.
 
The Dreadnought however fired into the Shas’La killing one and taking of the leg of one more, shame on the brave. Sadly, this was not the end of our casualties this bad day.
 
Having relocated me and Ui’Yriel once more fired into the Dreadnought this time being close enough to pelt several shots into it, I saw all my shots hit it in the side, Ui’Yriel had some luck, hitting with his missiles but missing with the plasma rifle, again not one of our shots managed to cause any harm to the thing. The same scenario played out against the Deff Dread, I was starting to worry the Hammerhead was loaded with practice ammunition. The Shas’La once more fired into the orks, hoping to wither down their number, their shooting led to another downed ork and the mek cursing about some injury wrought to his arm.
 
The Shas’La took some heavy losses against the Gue’Las infantry as they unleashed their bolters and Heavy bolters upon the lines, three more felled from the enemy fire.
 
As the Dreadnought came close to our lines the Deff Dread decided to head back and engage the space marines heading towards it’s lines, our experience with the orks tell us that whilst this might not have been all correct tactically it’s most likely the ork inside thought that the space marines was more fun to fight against (personal note: I’ll never understand the brutes savage ways)
 
This was most fortunate for us as we could now concentrate all our shooting on the Dreadnought, Ui’Yriel actually managed to get in behind it and fire a salvo, but again our weapons were ineffective against it, the hammerhead missed the Dreadnoughts vital parts, only managing to chip off some of the paint from it.
The Shas’La decided to make the Gue’La think twice before attacking them again and so lay down a horrid fusillade killing 3 of the marines, I told Ui’Yriel to assist them and he managed to fell the last Space Marine with a well placed plasma shot.
 
Again my and 388’s attempts were useless in bringing down the Dreadnought and I realized that it was going to ram into one of the teams of Shas’La, I tried to issue a warning over the comm-net, but they were to intent on getting revenge for their downed kin (Note: While I highly respect the Shas from Vior’La they are at times out of control)
 
As the Dreadnought charged into them I saw with my mind’s eye how they would get torn apart but they managed very well so stay out of the behemoths reach, flailing and hitting as it was.
 
While this was happening the enemies lines had closed and a whirring melee was making things difficult to supervise, we did not dare fire at the Dreadnought for fear of hurting our own troops and so we diverted our fire to the Deff Dread, knowing full well that if it killed the Space Marines it would be coming for us next. This merely distracted it, but it gave the space marine commander enough time to place some sort of explosive on the Dredd, blowing off some of the tubing and cables running to the leg units, immobilizing it. However even as this happened I saw small gretchin climb out of crevices in the Dredd and start to do battlefield repairs (Note: This pictvid might be worth sending to the Fio, we could possibly make drones for a similar purpose?)
 
The Dreadnought amongst our fire warriors started to take it’s toll as it picked up a Shas’La by the leg and incinerated it with it’s flamer, the others saw the futility of fighting this beast and backed of, this gave the hammerhead a clear shot and it blew of the motivator, immobilizing the Dreadnought, I used this to my favour, jumping up on top of it, pressing my plasma rifle against it’s reactor and fired. I quickly jumped off as the monstrosity shuddered then blew up in a gout of flame. After this the field belonged to us, we had cleared the Gue’Las firebase, the gretchin was in wild panic from the bloody melee with the Space Marines, only two were still standing from that squad. The Deff Dread killed all but their leader in the other, The 388 fired into the melee clipping the Chaplain in two and killing the ork inside the Dredd, making up for all the other failures. I and Ui’Yriel finished off the last of the Gue’La while the Shas’La hammered into the few remaining orks with volley after volley. Destroying their spirits and making them run.
 
We retrieved the drone and the intel is being sorted through now by my commandstaff. We will have scoured the hills of the ork infestations before long. Then the Gue’La will be forced off our planet, hopefully they will see their folly and leave of their own accord.
 
With high regard: Shas’El Sa’Cea Vita

The sun was hovering just below the horizon making the ice covered landscapes of Teriol III shimmer with streaks of blood red. The only thing that could be seen for miles around was endless tundra and the occasional bushels of evergreens. It had been a hard night for the Cadian 141th. With temperatures dropping well below -40C°. Several men had gotten light frostbite even with the insulated tents and clothing. The only troopers who had it nice and cozy were the crews of the two Leman Russes: Goliaths Revenge and Fist of Teriol along with the Veteran squad the Oppressors who were travelling by Chimera.

Major Williams reviewed the list of wounded come first light, The infantry platoon had sustained minor damages, but nothing that would significantly lower combat effectiveness. The Oppressors were at full capacity as were the Tank crews. The mortar teams attached to the platoon had reported that there was a risk of misfires with temperatures this low. But he waved such concerns aside. The insulated shell covers would protect as long as they had faith in the Emperor. His ratling snipers had probably been hit worst of all. Having been on several scouting runs two of their number were out of commission, with only five more remaining. His company medics said they would recover but it would be weeks before they would be back on active duty, one of them might even require augmentations. His own command squad had no problems, with their improved hab tents and clothing.

Along with the military force were several trucks and loaders. Filled with supplies and medicine for the outlying outposts to Hive Primary. This let his troops make good speed across the tundra, but there were reports of ork activity in the area. Several settlements had been attacked by a weird lot, even by ork standards they acted erratic. Sometimes they would just stand outside and moon the defenders, at times they would charge, then break down laughing scant meters from the gates. But it always ended the same, once the defenders opened fire they went into a blood frenzy, chanting the names “Mork” and “Gork” over and over as they ripped asunder what had taken humanity generations to build on this Emperor forsaken planet.

A man came in to the tent, his clothing blue/gray, neatly pressed and gleaming laspistol by his side. Most men would look scruffy after 8 days out in this, but not captain Green.
‘Major, we are awaiting your orders to start today’s journey’
‘Very well captain, make ready and prepare to move out’
Thirty minutes later the sounds of engines could be heard rumbling over the wind swept tundra. The sun having hardly moved over the sky at all cast long shadows in front of them.
‘This is major Williams to all units, we are about 6 hours out of Denderion, stay alert, the orks have been spotted in the area by our navy friends’

‘Major, this is raven one, we have confirmation on the enemy. They are 2 clicks west of your position over’
His ratling scouts had found an enemy raiding force, finally the chance to earn some glory and get relocated of this rock.
As on a cue shots were heard in the distance, with even mightier roars as the crude ork engines or war powered up.
‘Raven one what is the enemy force over’
‘We see two vehicles, seems to be rebuilds of imperial trucks, lots of gretchin, and a couple of small walkers. And deffcoptas. Can’t see inside the looted viechles though sir over’
‘Good job Raven, find cover and prepare to assist over out’
‘I want the Russes and the Oppressors ready on the southern flank, First platoon will take up a firing line to the north and the mortars hang back and blow whatever is gunning for us. Sniper support will come from the hills. Be ready!'

The troops started to spread out, but before they were in position the first ork vehicles came over the ridge shooting wildly, seemingly oblivious to the Humans in front of them.
They sped towards the lines coughing out grimy black smoke and making a terrible roar. As the orks opened fire it showed how little they knew of such things. Most shots fell short. And the few that did hit was not strong enough to penetrate the flak armor of the Cadians.
‘Men, this is our stand, we must not let them get to the supplies. That is the only thing that matters, deny them at every turn, for the Emperor!’
All over the com-net was heard ‘The Emperor protects’ as all guardsmen joined in.
Then they opened fire and the Emperor truly spoke through their guns, the mortar crews took aim at the gretchins. When the smoke cleared bits of green were lying around in shambles. The few remaining running in wild panic in all directions. The crew of the chimera got a lock on one of the deffcoptas and with a prayer to the omnissiah let the multi laser fire. The copta started bleeding black smoke and crashed into the ground with a great explosion making the snow melt away with the heat.
‘I want that truck taken out. Freyos do it!’
Freyos, trusted bodyguard to the Major, opened up with his plasma gun, feeling the heat as the supercharged ball of blue-white plasma left the barrel with awesome speed. It hit the looted vehicle square in the engine making it come to a grinding halt.

Their truck wrecked the orks poured out. A large nob belched out a mighty challenge and led the charge into the guard lines. Guns blasting they hit into the lines, already several members lay wounded from the gunfire when the green tide hit home there was little the team could do. They were brutally hacked down, merely a small annoyance to the orks. On the southern flank one of the ork walkers sent a crude rocket into the side of the chimera causing a large explosion. But when the smoke cleared the chimera came though unharmed.
‘Seems the orks have loaded with fireworks instead of armaments lads’ chuckled the driver over the intercom.
Suddenly every single guardsman felt the chill through their heat insulated clothing, frost forming even on the heated barrels of the lasguns.
‘Psyker, take cover!’ Williams had hardly realized he shouted before he hit the ground in cover, a prayer to the emperor on his lips
The wierdboy was now plain for all to see as the cloth that covered the back of the other truck was torn to shreds from the raw psychic powers wielded by the large ork, time seemed to slow as it uttered guttural incantations in a language Williams was happy he did not understand.
But just as the force was at it’s peak the large ork fell to his knees laughing, the feeling abruptly stopped and time returned to normal.

With scant warning shells started dropping from the sky. The mortar teams had opened up again, with a wail of the banshee they hit home in the ork lines, making the group that had recently charged duck to the ground in fear. The rest of the 141th screaming after revenge fired into the orks, putting shot after shot into them plowing them down.

With the few forces remaining to him the Wierdboy started to bellow a mighty WHAAAAGH!
But as he opened his mouth the lower end of his jaw disappeared in a cloud of black blood. The big ork fell to his knees, stunned, but not beaten. A swirling vortex of snow rose up around him, shielding him from more sniper fire. Goliaths Revenge had already managed to get a target lock however and fired blind into the hailstorm. With the sound of a thousand gusts in a million directions the vortex blew out, leaving a mangled, shattered corpse where the wierdboy had been.

Their boss dead, the rest of the boys decided to leg it. But even as they started to run both Goliaths Revenge and Fist of Teriol opened up, killing dozens of orks with each shot. The Fist scored another killshot against one of the Deffcoptas it’s haphazard engineering not keeping up with the blessed heavy bolter.
Major Williams looked out over the battlefield, he had lost not more than a dozen men. More than fifty orks, and several contraptions lay dead or destroyed. This was indeed a good day.
‘Well men, we are heading out. Denderion is still waiting for those supplies and I think our journey just got a dek of a lot easier.’

Commander Tristan looked out across the muddy field. Intelligence suggested that the last remnants of the ork squadron would be coming towards his forces, the ambush was set and his brothers lay waiting for them so he allowed himself to reflect on the previous day.

The battle had been grand! Tanks smashing into each other, Imperial Guardsmen pouring shots into the orks, paving the way for his battle-brothers to charge into the horde striding forward with bolter and chainsword. He had personally dispatched more than a dozen of the brutes with his lightning claws. Righteous anger had swelled in his chest when he was told that the ork warboss had managed to slip away in the turmoil.

Well, today they would rectify that. Zugrot, his retinue of nobs and the few boys that had come alive from the battle would feel the fury of the Astartes.
He surveyed his own forces, knowing that he would find no flaw there. Combat Squads Charlie and Echo hidden in the forest their bolters sanctified and blessed. Sergeants Olaf and Julius going in razorbacks with Delta and Alpha.

Tristan disliked this waiting before the battle and whispered a litany of the emperor to himself. To focus he decided to go over his war gear yet again. Armed with the finest the Imperium could offer he was confident that both his lightning claws and jump pack would serve him well, as so many times before, but his war gear had the same temperament as it's wielder and it was always prudent to recite the proper incantations. He was in the middle of his systems check when he heard his com cackle "This is Screaming Eagle, the targets have been sighted coming right at you commander, they are about 5 minutes out, over"

'And so it begins...'
"Be ready Brothers, the enemy is about to stumble upon us!"

And come they did. Someone had made a mistake. There was no armor, just like reported but the amount of boyz coming forth was far larger than intelligence had suggested.
Tristan did not worry though, his brothers had faced far worse and stood fast.

The orks were jogging towards the Space Marine lines, singing songs and bickering as if they had forgotten their defeat.
"Keep steady, start firing on my command brothers!" the stern voice of Brother Rufus cut across the comlink, 'He should be up for promotion soon' Tristan thought to himself, quickly purging his mind of such unimportant thoughts at a time like this...

'An all off a suddin Grok had 'is 'ead shot off by them large humies! We heard great big dakkas ahead and more boyz died. Dat dit not sit well with Boss Zugrot so he told us to charge 'dem humies! Wel all uz boyz we started runnin 'cross to 'da humies in 'da 'eavy armor shootin our dakkas at 'em! 'den out of 'da forest these 'trukks were coming right at us with really big gunz 'and more boyz were shot to bitz. 'dats when da boss shouted to da deffcoptas to gettem! 'and da 'coptas started shoot 'em wiw 'da rokkits! I sawed one of 'da trukks got shoot up. 'da big shoota still killed boyz but it was stuck to da ground! But 'fter that 'de humies big shootas shot our 'deff coptas outta 'da skye. 'dat made Zugrot real angry so he bellowed 'is WHAAAAAAGH! It 'was good gettin pumped up, me wanted to crush humie skulls!

We started runnin real fast, but 'den we all got shot up so much it was no more fun, datz when all the boyz scattered into the forest, well not 'da nobs, but 'da runtz.

"This is Delta, we are closing in on our targets from behind over"
"Good Delta, charge in from behind and prevent any and all orks from fleeing that way"
"Will do commander"
This was turning out better than he could have hoped, one of his Razorbacks was immobilised but it's heavy bolter kept spewing out death whenever it fired into the ork squads, it's passengers had
jumped out and were helping out with bolter fire. Meanwhile the other Razorback had disposed of the orks crude flying machines toghether with squad Echo. Charlie had also inflicted heavy losses on
the orks speeding across the battlefield. More than half the orks was dead or wounded, the rest was desperate and soon their weak eastern flank would be demolished. All that would be left was the
meganobs. Well, he would see to them personally.

His lightningclaws crackling with arcane energies he used his jump pack and leapt into one of them, planting both armorshod boots right in it's grinning face. The nob fell backwards, its face in a intangible mess as it's massive forehead caved in. Quickly recovering he raked the claws at the next nob, he managed to cut one of the huge beasts arms off but was rewarded with a swift punch to the head, knocking him unconcious.

'dats when 'da humies boss got knocked on 'da 'ead. We all cheered then though all 'da boyz was gone but me and 'da boss and 'da nobz in 'ard harmor waz still up and runnin.
Boss smashed one of 'da humie shooty wagons 'dat had killed alot of boyz and i don't know what he did, but it blew up! Zugrot is strong!.
'after 'dat we were almost through da humie battleline, but them all shot us alot and da nobz died. So it was just 'da boss and me left so i 'legged it, but I heard da boss scream real loud at 'da
humies wen they shot 'im over and over!