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yep

so second story

cuz i didn't know how to continue the first one.

so please feel free to comment on what i need to improve and stuff

and with that enjoy the story!


“All ships forward, engage the ork fleet.” Ordered Admiral Victus.

There was a surge of motion as Battlefleet Zeus moved towards the conglomeration of ork ships and roks. There was a grim silence as the fleet moved towards battle.

“Contact! Contact! All broadsides open fire!” chattered the vox, the sound of hundreds of command began to take its toll on the network.

The Apocalypse class battle ship Praetorian shook as the beams of energy shot out from the starboard side, striking an ork kill kroozer and punching several molten holes in the hull.

Hundreds of explosions dotted the pict screen as casualty reports began to pour in.

“Sir! Signatures detected behind Danae!” reported Lieutenant Aera.

“How many?” shot back Victus.

“Ten… no wait fifty- a hundred – sir there’s an entire ork Battlefleet behind the moon!”

“Then I hope those Astartes vessels make it in time.” Replied Victus.

Victus thought for a moment and was temporarily distracted when the ship was rocked again by the discharge of another lance salvo.

“I want all ships into phalanx! Troop carriers in the center, battle cruisers up front with me! We need to hold the line until the Space Marines can arrive!”

The fleet slowly dragged itself into position and formed around the carriers as the full fury of two ork battlefleets smashed into them.

Dull explosion rang throughout the Praetorian as kustomized macrocannons of an ork kill kroozer slammed into the void shields of the battleship.

“Close the phalanx! I don’t want a single chip of paint off of the troop carriers!” growled Victus.

Thousands of blips filled the auspex as boarding torpedoes accelerated towards the imperial ships. The lance batteries and macrocannons reaped a massive toll in orkish lives as they destroyed several hundred torpedoes but most managed to get through and slam into the hull of the Praetorian and its surrounding battle cruisers.

“Hull breaches on levels four, eight and nine!” warned the Lieutenant. Aera felt a sharp pain in his jaw as he finished speaking.

No! Not now…

“Parius deal with it.” Victus motioned towards the Sergeant-At-Arms. Jonah revved his chainsword while heading towards the elevator.

-----

He arrive at the fourth floor while the others were dealt with by other Guardsmen. As Parius stepped from the elevator a bolt shell detonated on the wall behind him.

He rolled to cover as several orks rounded the corner wielding crude pistols and knives.

“WAAAAAAAGH!”

Jonah sighed as he spun around the corner and immediately drove his chainsword into the neck of an ork, sawing through thick muscle and bone killing it instantly, the ork dropped as more stepped past its dead body.

He followed up with a lunge into the face of a roaring greenskin making a mess of its skull and spraying ork brains everywhere.

As adrenaline coursed through his system as he felt everything move in slow motion. He saw the individual flecks of saliva spew forth from the maw of an ork as it ran towards him. He lost focus for a moment and realized too late the xenos was upon him.

As he was pulling back the chainsword an ork charged at him with a choppa that managed to bite deep into his leg, fortunately the xenos paid with its life after Jonah returned the favor by severing its spine.

He twirled and slashed in a sort of elegant blade waltz, ork blood soaked the floor as xenos after xenos fell to his chainsword.

A particularly large ork charged towards him wielding an axe easily twice the size of those of his comrades and armored in crude pieces of metal bolted to its body.

Parius hopped to the side as the choppa slammed into the floor of the ship and drove his chainsword towards the greenskin’s legs. The teeth of his weapon skittered harmlessly against the plates of metal while the ork extracted his weapon from the gouge in the hull. The xenos lumbered around and struck the Sergeant with a heavy blow from his choppa.

Jonah grimaced as he parried the ork’s axe with his chainsword, the force of the blow knocking several of the teeth off his weapon and as his entire body shook with the effort of holding back the ork’s prodigious strength. He rolled to his right while slashing at the unprotected ankle of the ork, causing it to roar in pain as the sword bit deep into the flesh and bone.

With the ork temporarily distracted he spun behind and slashed its neck, opening a gaping wound that was followed by another slash to end the greenskin’s life. It toppled forward no longer having control of its limbs and died several seconds later.

He dropped to one knee and leaned on his chainsword after it fell. The adrenaline wore off and he winced as he tested his injured leg. He was covered in blood; both xenos and his own, as he limped his way back to the bridge.

Victus rubbed his temples as he surveyed the situation before him: They were outnumbered two to one. They may a have chance should the Astartes fleet arrive in time before they were obliterated. He sighed and checked the status reports. Several battle cruisers had already been destroyed or critically damaged beyond operation while the troop carriers were beginning to feel the heat. The skill of the Imperial Captains were being outstripped by sheer numbers.

Victus was deep in thought when the door slid open and someone stumbled, everyone turned toward the source of the noise to find Parius covered in ork blood and a deep gash in his thigh as he fell to the floor.

“Medic!” called Aera,

An Imperial Guard Medic and a Servitor rushed to Parius and carried him away to treat his injuries as the crew returned to their tasks.

“Did the other teams get rid of the orks? Inquired Victus

“Yes sir, they’re just sealing the breached areas, three casualties, five wounded.” Replied Aera.

Victus nodded as he redirected his attention to a pict-capture of an especially large ork ship that seemed to bear more weapons than a ship of that size could possibly support. A crudely painted ork skull with crossbones and an axe. The letters GITCRUSHA were smeared on a side of the ship.

“Orktholomew…” Victus muttered.

Victus eyes lit up as he constructed a plan,

“Get me on the vox with the Traxieus and Maikairius.”

-----

Lord General Foresh Zangairius strode the city walls of Iliad, checking the state of the men and turrets. The soldiers on guard quickly gave him salutes before returning their eyes to the horizon.

A woman in the red robes of the Adeptus Mechanicus glided quietly behind. Sporting several mechandrites that were folded to her back.

“Magos Castella, how many turrets are operational?”

“32%, targeting cogitators damaged on 95% of remaining turrets.” She replied, her vox cords giving her voice an overarching metallic tone that was always there when she spoke.

“Can we repair any of them?”

“No” she stated flatly, “I do not have the replacement parts required for such an operation.”

“Besides” she motioned towards the spent shells lying near an autocannon, “we don’t have much ammunition left.”

Zangairius swept his eyes across the battlefield.

The burned husks of ork and imperial vehicles lay on the broken ground, dotted by craters from high explosive munitions. The bodies of previous battles still lay where they fell.

Zangairius looked towards the sky and saw pinpoints of red and orange as the fleets battled.

“Sir, the orks are up to something.” Piped a Guardsman, “I think you should take a look.”

He took the pair of binoculars from the Guardsman and saw the orks preparing their weapons and vehicles.

“Sound the alarm, the orks are going to make another attack.”

“Yes s-“the Guardsman was interrupted by a series of deafening explosions.

The detonations threw up several large clouds of dust that obscured Zangairius’ vision.

He coughed and waved in an effort to clear the dust.

After it dissipated Foresh checked the state of the orks and saw what looked like a ten foot tall ork clad in a crude exo skeleton painted a bright green gray camouflage pattern suddenly leap up from a hidden trench in the ground to utter a loud WAAAAAGH!

The orks from the camp immediately sprinted for the openings in the walls while the more privileged ones hopped on their vehicles and sped in the same direction.

Several twin linked heavy bolters turrets turned to the tsunami of orks and began firing, the explosive rounds tore into the bodies of hundreds of xenos.

This did nothing to deter the others as they sprinted over the bodies of their fallen comrades, brandishing crude guns and axes. The orks charged towards the collapsed sections of the wall as Guardsmen desperately attempted to block the gaps with whatever they could.

Castella appeared beside him with two huscarl skitarii guards armed to the teeth with bolters, melta guns and plasma rifles and armored with heavy plates of adamantium.

“I’ll deal with the main breach” Zangairius said while drawing his power saber, “You go tend to the turrets and hide somewhere.”

-----

Castella cast him an annoyed glance and headed towards another shattered part of the wall.

Veriux arrived to see the Guardsmen just barely holding back the tide of orks, las gun fire spewing death towards the greenskins. The orks that fell at the makeshift barrier began to create a ramp for the others, threatening to spill over into the streets of Iliad.

Castella and the skitarii remained above the carnage as they began to rain bolter shells, melta and plasma fire on the greenskins below. The projectiles tore and melted the flesh of the orks and killed several of them before the xenos realized what was happening.

They turned their attentions to Castella and began to spray bullets in her direction. The huscarls instantly shifted together to protect the Magos. The rounds pinged harmlessly against the adamantium plates.

The Magos carefully placed a las pistol shot and split open the skull of an ork while its comrades were being cut down by the las guns of the Guardsmen. It seemed like greenskins were being pushed back but a killa kan barged its way into the front soaking up the las beams with no effect.

The crude missile launcher mounted on its shoulder blew away the barrier and the greenskins rushed towards the entrance.

Before they could do so they were cut down from the hail of fire from Castella and her huscarls. The killa kan immediately switched its attention to the three figures standing atop the wall.

It let loose a volley of shells from its twin linked shootas, accuracy was rendered redundant by the number of bullets it fired, taking a mechandrite off of a huscarl.

The melta and plasma guns of the skitarii quickly melted through the armored shell of the crude dreadnought and destroyed most of the primitive circuitry of the kan.

The gretchin inside panicked as it lost control, the machine swung uncontrollably into the mass of orks and smashed several greenskins into a paste before finally coming to a halt.

The xenos still rushed into the hole the kan made in a mad attempt to penetrate the defenses of the city.

The orks fell upon the Imperial with axes and pistols. The Guardsmen were no match against the xenos in close combat and Veriux was reluctant to fire into the orks for fear of hitting the Guardsmen.

Just as it seemed when the line was about to collapse a figure leapt impossibly high into the air from the center of the city and struck the ground with a massive explosion knocking everyone off their feet and throwing up clouds of dust.

The person sprinted through the mist of dirt and an ork was cut in half, the greenskin’s face frozen in a roar as it fell to the ground. The figure flashed back and forth across the ork lines and soon several xenos met the same fate as the first.

Yet even with the stranger’s assistance the green tide could not be stemmed, the guardsmen were being slaughtered entire squads at a time. Castella hoped that Zangairius was faring better.

-----

“Hold the line you mongrels!” shouted Foresh in the process of dislodging his saber from the skull of an ork.

“We’re being overrun!” wailed a Guardsmen, the man attempted run to the citadel but was caught by a bolt round in the skull.

Regimental Commissar Ramiel Odinfoot stepped forward from the Guardsman’s fallen body,

“If you will not serve in battle then you will serve in the firing line.”

The Guardsmen surrounding the body of their fallen comrade began firing far faster in an attempt to show the Commissar they had no intention of retreating.

“Where are the heavy weapons teams?” yelled Odinfoot swiping his powerfist alongside the Lord General.

“There!” Zangairius replied motioning towards a smoking crater.

The commissar growled as he ripped the arm off an ork and followed up with shot from his bolt pistol to the rib cage, spilling the xenos’ organs on to the ground.

There was a scream as a bolt shell caught itself in the chest of a guardsmen, splattering his squad mates with visceral remains.

“We can’t hold them much longer!” roared Zangairius swiping his power saber at the stomach of a greenskin.

Ramiel said nothing as he parried a strike aimed to disembowel him.

There was a loud explosion that emanated from another breach.

“Damned Magos better not have done anything stupid…” Zangairius muttered,

The Lord General finished off the ork in front of him as a loud WAAAAAAGH! drew his attention. He turned his head and saw several orks attempting to make a suicidal dash for the barrier. Tens of las beams met them head on and all but one ork was killed.

The one that made it was carrying several stikkbombs and managed to rupture a hole in the barricade.

“Damned orks…” growled Odinfoot as he and Zangairius ran towards the mouth of the bulwark made by the explosion.

The Commissar and Lord General stood shoulder to shoulder as the mass of xenos slammed against them.

“Come get it you bastards!” shouted Ramiel as he plunged his power fist into the throat of an ork and pulverizing its trachea.

Las beams flashed around them as they struck orkish armor to little effect,

“I hope the damned battle fleet makes it in time!” yelled Zangairius,

“That makes two of us!” barked Odinfoot.

-----

Light reflected off the black-grey metal of Inquisitor Artimec’s Aegis power armor while heavy footsteps echoed in the empty halls of the Praetorian as he walked to the bridge.

The door slid open to reveal the Techpriest Enginseer Xeros and Admiral Victus clad in master crafted carapace armor and a power sword tucked into a sheath. The pair surrounded a holographic table.

Icarus noted something was disturbing his psychich wards, he made a mental note to investigate.

“Inquisitor! I’m glad you could join us.” Said the Admiral as he tapped several symbols on a pict screen.

Icarus nodded and joined them as Victus continued explaining his plan.

“We need to take out the ork battleship. The Traxieus and Maikairius will escort us to it.”

The Enginseer interrupted with suppressed annoyance, “The battle cruisers can’t sustain that much trauma.”

“I know, this is why the Praetorian will continue the journey after they are destroyed.”

The Xeros’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he barely constrained his fury at such as suggestion.

“Are you insane?! This is an Apocalypse class battleship! Do you have any idea what archeotech this contains?! This is heresy against the Omnissiah!”

Victus’ reply was just as furious, “I will not sacrifice the entire battle fleet for the delayed destruction of three ships!”

The Techpriest said nothing as he glared at Victus with hatred smoldering in his eyes.

“Besides” Victus continued, “The Praetorian’s void shields should be strong enough sustain the guns of the ork battleships.”

Icarus spoke up to break the tension,

“What will be doing once we reach the battleship?”

The admiral cleared his throat as he proceeded, “We’re going to bombard the battleship at point blank range with our port side lance batteries.”

The Inquisitor nodded, content with the answer.

“Any questions?” Victus asked, he was met with silence.

“Good, no more delays.”

“Aera, Get me a vox link with Captain Veria and Captain Morias.”

The bridge was filled with the sound of explosions and static, but the voices of the captains could be heard.

“Captains, I am about to ask you to commit the entirety of your ship and all her crew, for the Imperium.”

With no hesitation the Captains replied,

“Of course sir, what would you have us do?”

“I need you to escort the Praetorian to the ork battleship. We’re going to behead the ork fleet.”

Dual affirmatives answered Victus as the cruisers moved from the phalanx to join alongside the battleship.

Xeros stormed away from the bridge and made his way towards his quarters.

I won’t let this defilement of the machine god happen.

Victus paid the Techpriest no heed as he turned his attention to the attack.

The three ships advanced towards the ork armada, the void shields absorbing the barrage the orks dealt.

The humans returned in kind with Mechanicus blessed lance batteries and macrocannons. The machine spirits within the targeting cogitators carefully calculated optimized firing solutions to destroy the orks with righteous fury.

Progress was steady as the battle cruisers took the brunt of the blow but their void shields sustained heavy damage.

“Void shields down! Hull integrity degrading! All hands to the savior pods-“the vox was cut short the instant a fireball erupted to the left of the Praetorian.

“The Traxieus is gone sir.” Reported Aera.

Victus mourned silently for the lost ship and crew as he closed his eyes for a moment.

“And the Maikairius?”

“Void shields are holding at fifty percent, lance batteries disabled, enginarium running at thirty percent operational capacity.”

“Can they retreat in time?”

“No, they’ll be destroyed before they can get to the phalanx.”

Victus sighed before speaking,

“Their sacrifice shall be honored in the coming victory. Press the advance.”

The two massive warships lumbered forward, dotted in explosions held back by their shields.

The phalanx was far behind them as they progressed towards the ork battleship, broadsides coughing fiery death towards the ork ships.

The Admiral watched through a pict screen as the void shields of the Maikairius finally gave way and the hull was punctured by kustomized lance batteries and macrocannons. In its last dying moment the Maikairius fired its savior pods towards the orks and shot its macrocannons.

The pods smashed into several ships and detonated moments afterwards.

Tenacious bastards, Victus grinned, filled their only escape with melta charges.

The battle cruiser was finally silenced as a macrocannon round damaged their enginarium. engulfing the ship and everything surrounding it in a storm of plasma.

The maelstrom briefly smothered the Praetorian before blinking out of existence, leaving behind the cold remnants of the Maikairius and the bodies of the crew that serviced her.

“Sir! Ork battleship Gitcrusha within range!” informed Aera.

“Starboard broadside open fire!” commanded Victus.

The order was met with a loud rumble and everything went dark. A few seconds later the lights flickered back on and the injured grinding of the engines could be heard.

A cry of pain sounded from the Lieutenant. His hands slid from the terminal as he clutched at his jaw as he squirmed in pain.

Victus prepared to call the medic but before he could do so the door slid open to reveal Techpriest Xeros panting as he jogged towards Victus.

“Admiral the weapon systems have been disabled by an orkish pulse mine.”

"Strange, our auspex detected nothing."

"It must have been cloaked in some way."

“Hm, the void shields still seem to be active.”

“Yes, I believe it was tailored to neutralize our weapon systems only.”

“Then the only way we can destroy the ship is from inside….”

“What? We should retreat while we can!” Xeros exclaimed in surprise,

“Xeros” Victus whipped around to face the Techpriest, his gaze drilling deep into the bionic eyes of the Enginseer, “I have just lost two of my best captains and their ships along with their crew, and I’ll be damned if I let anymore join them!”

“I propose we take a boarding party to detonate the Gitcrusha’s enginarium.” Spoke a voice from the shadows, the eight foot tall Inquisitor stepped forward.

Again, he felt his psychic wards alerting him to something. But the feeling disappeared as quickly as it came.

“How? We don’t have any idea where it is located.” protested Xeros

“Auspex paints it as heavily customized Retribution class battleship, the enginarium should still be in the original location.” Replied Icarus,

Victus interrupted, “Then we must depart with all due haste. Get Parius to the hangar; I’m going as well.”

“You’ll be needed here Admiral.”

“If we don’t succeed in destroying that battleship the entire fleet will be destroyed. Besides-“he drew his power sword and maneuvered it into the small gap between Icarus’ helmet and chest plate in less than a second. “It’s good to practice fighting now and again.”

Icarus shook his head as his helm hid a small grin while they made their way to the hangar.

Lore will be explained in later chapters

Thx for reading!

“Commissar we have to retreat!” Yelled Zangairius as he crossed saber and axe with an ork.

Odinfoot growled as he decapitated a greenskin with his power fist while shooting another.

“Ramiel!” Zangairius yelled again, this time with more desperation.

With a snarl the commissar finally gave the order: “Fall back!” He roared as Odinfoot slowly walked backwards into the city.

The Guardsmen had done several retreat drills for situations like these. Those men that were at the back of the barrier immediately moved to the abandoned hive apartments and began to give covering fire to those that were retreating.

The Commissar and Lord General back stepped slowly as a hail of las beams met the orks. Without another word the pair sprinted towards the buildings where the rest of the Guardsmen were garrisoned in.

A cry of pain sounded from Foresh as a bullet punctured a weak point in his carapace armor and lodged inside his shoulder.

Ramiel turned his head to make sure Zangairius was still running and was satisfied when the Lord General caught up to him.

They both ducked inside the building as bullets smashed into the wall where they were moments ago.

A groan emanated from Zangairius as he clutched his shoulder. Odinfoot cursed under his breath as he called for a medic.

An imperial guardsman arrived with a medical servitor and quickly extracted the pieces of metal from his shattered shoulder blade. Before the guardsman could do much else the sound of gunfire quickly reminded them of what situation they were in.

“Damned liberation fleet better make it in time…” muttered Odinfoot as he fired his bolt pistol at the orks.

-----

The woman darted in and out of the ork horde. With each journey several orks could be seen missing limbs, heads or both. But there were more greenskins than even the stranger could handle, and soon the defense was collapsing.

Luckily the only operational Leman Russ tank left on Iliad reinforced the line. The vehicle’s myriad of weaponry cutting through the mob of orks. Combined with Castella’s huscarls the firepower brought to bear was stalling the xenos advance for the time.

But just as it seemed the greenskins were being held back as gigantic ork clad in crude power armor smashed its way to the front.

“I IZ WARBOSS MUHARA AND DIS IS MY PLANET!” roared the humongous xenos as it charged towards the Leman Russ. The tank focused all its guns upon the ork, only to have their efforts foiled by its kustom force field. The greenskin brandished its power klaw before ripping the tank apart. The 150 millimeters of armor plating shredded like tissue paper as the ork slashed its way inside.

Several screams could be heard from the doomed men operating the Leman Russ as they were torn to piece by the Warboss. Muhara emerged from the wreckage of the tank holding the tank commander between the blades of his power weapon high above him. With a toothy smile the ork severed the man in half, the commander’s face was frozen in a scream as his legs and torso fell to the ground.

With that the line broke and the Guardsmen ran to the hive buildings to hide. “Damn it.” Veriux muttered, she ordered the two huscarls to fall back as well. Intent on forming a last stand in Iliad’s citadel.

-----



The boarding party arrived at the hangar of the Praetorian. A Valkyrie was being prepped for departure as they made their way to aircraft.

Icarus eyed Jonah as he limped alongside Victus, he was barely able to keep up with the admiral. Let alone fight, thought the inquisitor. They soon arrived at the Valkyrie and checked to make sure all their gear was operational and present.

“Admiral, I think Sergeant Parius should remain aboard the Praetorian. His wound will prove to be a liability during the mission.” spoke Icarus before they boarded.

“What?” exclaimed Jonah, “I’m fine!” he attempted to stand on his bandaged leg and immediately grimaced in pain.

“No, he’s right. Parius you’ll stay with the Praetorian.” Interrupted Victus, “You’ll be too slow with your leg wound.”

The sergeant at arms had disappointment etched on his face. “Very well, Emperor be with you.” He sighed, he turned to Icarus and playfully punched the inquisitor’s arm. “Get a few of the green bastards for me eh?” He grinned. Although Parius couldn’t see Icarus through his helmet, he knew that Artimec was grinning back.

“Will do sergeant” boomed the voice, amplified by vox speakers in the helm.

“If we could leave as quickly as possible gentlemen that would be best.” Said Xeros, already boarding the Valkyrie. Victus and Icarus quickly followed and soon the Valkyrie accelerated towards the massive ork battleship.

It was at least 30% bigger than the Praetorian if not more. Armor plating had been crudely joined with the ship and hundreds of weapons jutted out from its sides. The whole thing looked like a floating junkyard, but the boarding party knew it was as deadly as any Mechanicus made vehicle.

As they approached the floating fortress, several of the ork weapons began firing at them. “Prepare for evasive maneuvers,” warned the pilot as the Valkyrie swerved and dodged in an attempt to bypass the damage. The skill of their aviator proved invaluable as he weaved around the projectiles.

Icarus, Victus and Xeros would have been thrown around like rag dolls if not for the harnesses that secured them to their seats. The inquisitor had no reaction to the violent movement of the Valkyrie, having suffered far more drastic actions before. Victus was similar, acquiring years of flight experience had toned him to the excessive forces that came with dogfighting. Xeros did not fare as well as the other two. The Techpriest was more suited to study technology in a quiet lab instead of being in the middle of a battle. But none the less he performed valiantly and managed to keep his stomach in check; even if looking at little green.

“We’re almost through their arc of fire.” informed the pilot, “I’m going to try and fi-”

Before he could finish his sentence an explosion rocked the Valkyrie. Warning klaxons went off and the ship started to shake violently. “By the emperor! What was that?!” yelled Victus.

“Ork lascannons hit our engine!” static for a brief moment before the intercom spoke again, “Brace for impact!”

-----

A man meditated in a cavern, breathing in deeply and exhaling. He felt eddies of the immaterium touch his mind. He prepared to dive into the waves of the warp when a voice called to him.

“Lord Umbra, we have found it.”

The man withdrew his presence from the empyrean and returned to reality. He merely nodded at the space marine and unfolded his legs from under him and stood to full height. Following the space marine they arrived at a larger section of the cave.

The rock had been carved into flowing arches. Glyphs had been gouged into the stones, upon the walls, floor, ceiling; everywhere. There was not one place in the cavern where the runes did not smother. Upon the far side of the cave there was a raised pedestal, more ornate patterns were imprinted upon the podium but these were familiar. Under it a blank slate was present, its purpose unknown.

The elevated characters were of a more common dialect; Low Gothic. The figure stepped towards the pedestal. Immediately gouts of warp fire erupted from the glyphs beneath him and consumed the man.

“My lord!” yelled the space marine, he could do nothing as he watched the figure being enveloped in flames. Suddenly the inferno was extinguished, not even a trace of its former existence was left behind. The figure had been untouched. Not so much as even singe on his terminator armor, the man had shielded himself with the same energy the fire was made of.

Silently the man proceeded to the pedestal and slid his eyes over the runes.

Go where the world dies.
Where slaughter and sinister designs enthrall.
The intelligence of convoluted symbiotes.
Where insidious phantasms, seduce
And corrupt the sanity of the most righteous.

The figure repeated the words, with each syllable the words reverberated in his mind. “Leave me brother, I must solve this.”

“Of course Lord Umbra.” The space marine replied, bowing as he quickly exited the cavern.

The man sat down and crossed his legs. He let his presence enter the warp; carefully probing the aura in the room.

He breathed in,
And exhaled.

-----

There was a scream; both human and metal as the pilot smashed the Valkyrie between two armor plates. The resulting crash managed to force the plane several layers into the ship.

Victus groaned as he rubbed his head, he slid his hand to his power saber to ensure it was still there.

“Fething orks… By the emperor I swear I will kill every one of these accursed xenos” he muttered, fumbling around in the darkness. He managed to grasp the release mechanisms of his seat and quickly unlocked the safety harnesses that most likely saved his life.

“Victus! You’re awake.” Artimec spoke, the inquisitor brushed the frayed remnants of the seat belts off his armor before moving to check on the Techpriest. Icarus’ occulobe implant combined with the night vision built into his helmet granting him no trouble in seeing the Enginseer despite the near total darkness. “I thought you were dead.”

“It’ll take more than that to take out an old dog like me.” Victus growled, quickly standing up, stumbling his way to the cockpit and checking on the pilot. The result came moments later; “He’s dead, impact snapped his neck, among other things.”

Icarus grunted in confirmation and shook Xeros. “Techpriest! WAKE UP!” the inquisitor’s amplified voice shook the Enginseer awake. The Techpriest’s face froze into a grimace and he immediately shielded his face with his hands.

“Xeros..?” Artimec asked cautiously, the suddenly Enginseer shook himself and his visage unlocked itself from the expression. Realizing his hands were up he quickly lowered them back to his sides while his mechandrites pushed him upright.

“I’m fine.” Xeros grumbled as he ran scans checking for any damage that had occurred to his body. Finding none he was satisfied. The three left the Valkyrie through the shattered window of the cockpit. Before exiting the Techpriest quickly paused: “Thank you machine spirit for our safe arrival, may you find everlasting joy in the embrace of the Omnissiah.” He whispered before following Victus and Icarus.

“Where are we?” the Admiral inquired keeping his hand close to his power saber as he attempted to pierce the darkness to no avail.

Icarus made his way to one of the walls of the ork battleship and studied it for a moment. “I believe we are in a derelict part of the ship due to the advanced state of rust around us. This is most likely why we were able to punch so deeply into the ship.”

Xeros joined the inquisitor and scanned the wall, confirming Artimec’s suspicions. “How did you know that?” inquired the Techpriest, Icarus froze and thought about it for several seconds, “I don’t know actually.” He admitted, “It feels like an instinct.” The Enginseer nodded and they rejoined Victus.

“So where is the Enginarium?” the Admiral asked,

“Judging from the location of the defaced Imperial Shrine when we entered the Gitcrusha, we need to go…” Xeros drew out a series of twist and turns on his auspex screen that the three of them all memorized.

Victus nodded, “Let’s go, the faster we destroy this xenos ship the more men we save.”

-----

If you guys find this part to be better written than the others, thank my editor

-----

“Someone get me a vox operator!” shouted Zangairius, clutching at his shoulder as blood dripped down his carapace armor and leaving a trail on the floor.

“Foresh, we need to stem the bleeding.” Said Odinfoot as he prepared to tear a piece of his sash into a makeshift bandage.

“No! No, I’m fine.” Foresh protested, “Besides, we have more pressing things to worry about.” A man hauling a heavy vox pack greeted the Lord General and saluted. The Guardsman handed him the vox while tuning the caster to all frequencies.

Foresh took a deep breath before speaking, attempting to do his best to sound confident. “This is Lord General Zangairius, all Imperial Forces retreat to the citadel.”

Without waiting for a response he returned the vox to the Guardsman. “Come on.” Zangairius motioned, “We need to leave before the gates are sealed.”

Ramiel nodded and they quickly headed for the back of the building, passing the Guardsmen as they set up explosives. Rushing out the rear entrance their explosives were triggered prematurely. The resulting blast killed the Guardsmen inside the building and knocked everyone in close proximity off their feet. Odinfoot dropped to one knee as the shockwave hit him; mean while Zangairius was knocked down like a bowling pin.

“What detonated the explosives?!” roared the Commissar. He unsteadily raised himself from the kneeling position and immediately assisted the dazed Guardsmen. “Must have been one of their rockets!” replied the Lord General, scrambling to his feet. Zangairius checked himself for injuries and found none bar the bullet wound.

Odinfoot, Zangairius and the surviving Guardsmen quickly excavated themselves from the rubble and made their way towards the Citadel. They all knew the stone wouldn’t keep the orks back for long. While they made their way towards the citadel, Zangairius left a trail of blood.

-----

Magos Castella managed to make it to the citadel using the old sewer tunnels that had been sealed off decades ago. Luckily the access codes had not changed either and allowed for easy use to anyone who knew the existence of the channels.

Veriux wove her way through the infirmary, stepping around and over the patients in the hallway. She arrived at an operating table with a stripped down Zangairius clad only in his undergarments. Blood leaked from a wound in his shoulder staining the grey shirt surrounding it.

Hovering over him she extended her mechandrites, gingerly probing the wound. Zangairius grimaced as the metal instruments came in contact with his raw flesh.

“Stay still” ordered Castella as she withdrew several tiny bullet fragments that the Servitor had missed. She sealed up the wound with stitches and a bandage; not the way she would have liked to treat an injury. But supplies were being drained at an alarming rate and not even the Lord General could procure much.

“Done” Retracting her mechandrites Veriux quickly moved on to the next patient while Zangairius sat on the table and departed to redress in his carapace armor. The Magos swept her eyes over the sea of patients in the infirmary, she knew that if she disengaged her olfactory filters the smell of blood mixed with anesthetics would fill her nostrils. She sighed before attending to the nearest Guardsmen that had suffered a burn encompassing his left arm.

This was going to be a long battle.

-----

“Xeros” spoke Icarus as the three of them took steps, careful not to fall through the floor of the Gitcrusha.

“Hm? What is it?” replied the Techpriest with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Why did you shield your face and make that expression when you were in the Valkyrie?” inquired the inquisitor.

The Enginseer froze for a split second, almost imperceptible in his stride but Artimec caught it anyway. “I had to take the precaution that the orks had found us” Xeros sniffed, “I did not want an axe in my face.”

Icarus wanted to press him for more information but decided it was best to just leave it. Perhaps some other time the Techpriest would be more open.

“How did you come about?” Xeros questioned, “I have never met a space marine inquisitor before. Do enlighten me.” Victus was also interested, but never asked. He listened intently to Icarus’ reply.

Artimec had been expecting this question; though he thought it would be asked by someone else.

“I don’t know” he sighed, “I don’t remember much before Lord Inquisitor Arcturus took me under her wing.”

“So you remember nothing?”

“I still retain my faculties, but feel as though there is a veil over part of my mind.” Icarus pondered, “It is... frustrating, to say the least.”

The Admiral and Techpriest both stayed silent, unable to offer any sort of solution to his plight. This continued for several minutes, with a thick silence pervading the atmosphere. “We’re nearing the center of the ship, we have to pass through it to get to the Enginarium.” informed Xeros.

Victus and Icarus nodded, doing their best to lessen the noise of their steps. This was rather difficult for the inquisitor, his aegis armor was banging against the hull of the battleship each time he stepped forward. They paused and Icarus received twin glares from the Victus and Xeros. Artimec stepped as lightly as possible to reduce the amount of noise. Succeeding slightly, the trio continued into the heart of the Gitcrusha.

-----

Back on the bridge of the Praetorian Jonah looked at pict feed of the battle. Projectiles flashed back and forth across the ork and imperial lines too fast for the eye to track. Parius exhaled a frustrated sigh, unable to do anything to assist in the battle. He painfully limped over to an empty seat and tried to relax. He found himself tapping the hilt of his chainsword, still uneasy.

The Praetorian’s lance batteries had fallen silent, the Techpriests were confounded by the conundrum. It seemed there was nothing wrong with the lance batteries yet they still refused to fire. An even stranger fact was that the batteries showed no sign of electrical damage from the ork pulse mine they had apparently hit. Parius hated floating in space like a sitting duck. Luckily the void shields were still active somehow, even if they were taking a pounding from the orks.

Lieutenant Aera held his hand over his jaw while tapping away at his terminal, a pained expression etched on his face. He groaned as another burst of pain hit him. Rising from his seat, he stumbled his way to a restroom.

Lord Umbra... you promised me more time! Aera thought furiously.

Hmph, I better make sure he’s ok thought Parius, grunting as he limped after Aera exiting the bridge.

The Lieutenant rushed into the bathroom, clutching his jaw with both hands. A line ran down from the center of his lip to the middle of his neck slowly oozing blood. “Oi! You okay in there?” yelled Jonah as he leaned on the door.

“I’m fine!” replied Aera, but something was... off with his speech, the voice was deeper and his words were garbled.

“Aera open the door!” shouted Parius as he pounded on the door; guttural growling was his only answer. The sergeant at arms sighed for the umpteenth time as he revved his chainsword, stabbing it through the door, quickly chopping it in half.

The sight he came face to face with was... surprising to say the least.

Aera’s mouth and neck had split open and an unnaturally long tongue flailed about, surrounded by hundreds of sharp fangs. The spawn was coupled with several extra limps extended from his back, while his original hands and feet had transformed into claws and talons respectively.

“By the emperor!” uttered Parius drawing the attention of the abomination as it growled again, lunging at him with its claws. He parried the attacks with his chainsword and hopped aside, the claws sinking into the wall behind Parius.

Jonah slashed, severing several of its arms. The thing kicked backwards catching the sergeant in the chest and winding him. Parius slammed against the hull and red dots swam around the edge of his vision, struggling to breathe when the spawn leaped at him.

With a groan, Jonah rolled out of the way, the abomination slamming into the wall. Parius couldn’t help but internally chuckle as it was struggling to free its talons from the metal. He forced the chainsword into the creature’s spine and sliced it open, followed by a decapitation. The head was still snapping at his ankles so he reduced it to a bloody mess between the teeth of his sword. Covered in gore for the second time, he limped his way back to the bridge again, only this time several of his ribs were cracked.

He arrived at the bridge, knocked on the wall and fell unconscious.

-----

“Someone get me a scalpel,” ordered Castella. A hand appeared before her, armored in ceramite with covered intricate engravings, holding the tool she requested.

Quickly taking the scalpel with a muttered thanks, Veriux sliced through the final tendon and the Guardsman’s mangled leg came free. The unfortunate man had been sedated but he still twitched at the loss of his limb.

Tearing off a piece of the Guardsman’s undershirt she bandaged the stump to the best of her abilities. Castella turned towards the armored figure that had assisted her.

“Lord Inquisitor Arcturus, I am glad you arrived safely.” The Magos bowed, “And thank you for your assistance with the orks.”

The Inquisitress unsealed her helmet to reveal an alarmlingly beautiful woman. Piercing violet eyes swept the room, coupled with high cheekbones, full lips and a cascade of silvery-white hair. One would think someone as alluring as Arya would be a noble's daughter, pampered by servants and relaxing in a grand estate, instead of traversing the galaxy for daemons and heretics. Nestling the helm in the crook of her arm, she replied with a small smile, “Your huscarls reaped a great toll as well; where are they?”

“I have sent them to assist in the preparation of the defenses.”

“What is the status of the liberation fleet?”

“Unknown, ground to space communication relay disrupted, only planet vox networks are operational.”

The smile disappeared only to be replaced by a serious expression, “Then we must hold the citadel until they can arrive on Dionysus. I will oversee the defenses along with the Lord General. We will need to seal the gates soon, the orks are fast approaching.”

“But Inquisitor Arcturus, Guardsmen are still arriving from other parts of the city.”

“How long until the rest of them arrive?”

“20 minutes for the farthest group, five minutes for the closest.”

“And the orks?”

“Ten minutes.”

“Allow the closest group to enter. Have the others hide in the hab blocks.”

“Understood, Lord Arcturus.”

-----

“We’re nearing the center of the ship, watch for ork patrols.” whispered Xeros. The trio stuck close to the walls, to avoid being out in the open, as well as a medium for Icarus to detect vibrations through the metal.

Victus kept his hand on his beloved power saber while Xeros had brought with him a bolt pistol. Icarus however was equipped with twin retractable c’tan phase blades mounted under his wrists. He opted not to take ranged weapons due to his psyker abilities.

They moved stealthily along the walls, checking each intersection to make sure no orks were approaching. Progress was quick as they moved closer to the Enginarium of the Gitcrusha, their advance was halted when they arrived at the door to the engines.

"Xeros, get the gate open, Icarus and I will keep watch.” whispered Victus, drawing his power saber. The Techpriest quickly ran over to the gate and attempted to find a terminal to open the door with. But after several minutes of searching, he only found a hole in the wall where the terminal should have been.

“No terminal,” Xeros grumbled. The Enginseer knew the ship would be badly defiled, but it still hurt him to look at the desecrated imperial vehicle.

Icarus strode to the gate, flicking his wrists, the ten inch phase blades shot forth. The Techpriests eyes widened at the sight, he opened his mouth to say something but was stopped by Victus. The admiral gave Xeros a silencing stare, the Enginseer returned it but grudgingly kept his mouth shut. Piercing the metal with no resistance, he quickly carved an eight by three foot rectangle. The inquisitor withdrew his blades while shoving the metal. The segment slid forward and Icarus shoved it to the side.

Artimec stepped through the gap while Xeros and Victus followed suit. Unsurprisingly the enginarium was empty, save for the occasional scrap metal that littered the floor. The plasma reactors were clearly visible in the center of the room. They emitted a tortured grinding, echoing off the walls. The trio walked cautiously to the reactors, watching for any traps or hazards.

Finding none, Xeros quickly ran to examine the engine muttering litanies of diagnosis. Inquisitor Artimec walked back to the entrance, checking the hallway for orks. Icarus heard footsteps behind him and whipped around, flicking his phase blades out of their sheaths. He came face to face with a surprised Victus, the inquisitor sighed and retracted his blades.

“My apologies Icarus, I need to ask you about something.” the Admiral said,

“Of course, what is it?” replied Artimec,

Victus motioned towards his c’tan blades, “Why do you have those weapons?”

“Because these blades have proven too useful to discard, they have assisted me immensely against the enemies of the Imperium.”

The admiral gave an exasperated sigh, rubbing his eyes he grumbled, “Then i hope you can convince Xeros. He’s going to threaten you with heresy for using xenos weapons.”

“Do not worry, Admiral Victus. I have faced similar accusations before."

Before Victus could question the inquisitor anymore, they were interrupted by the Techpriest who had finished tampering with the reactors."

“The engines have been set to overheat in five minutes” informed Xeros quickly eyeing the inquisitor, “We’ll discuss your choice of weaponry later Icarus.”

“Very well, let’s get to the escape pods, I don’t want to be on this ship when it detonates.” nodded Artimec. ignoring the Techpriest's glare.

-----

Ok, so i'm going to write my next sections longer, cuz those segments are waaaay too short.
As always any constructive criticism is appreciated!
Thx!

Inquisitor Lord Arya arrived at the main gate of the citadel, guardsmen were scurrying, about fortifying walls and setting up heavy bolters. The few pieces of operation heavy weaponry had been diverted to the gate. She instantly spotted Lord General Zangarius standing atop an ammunition crate, locking her helmet to her belt, she walked over to him with long graceful strides. The Lord General finished talking with a Guardsman before facing Arya.

"Lord Inquisitor" nodded Foresh,

"How are the defences?" replied Arcturus, sweeping her striking violet eyes across the courtyard.

"We have managed to reinforce the walls with anything that could be spared" answered Zangairius, motioning towards the guardsmen hammer thick sheets of metal to the walls. "A few more minutes and the heavy weaponry should be ready."

Arya opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by a series of loud roars coming from another gate in the citadel. Before they could react an explosion cleared away a collapsed hive apartment. The ensuing dust could obscured the green skins that charged at the gate, only their warcries giving away their presence. 

"Close the gate!" yelled Arya, as she dashed back into the citadel, intent on equipping her weapons.

"Coward" muttered Victus as he drew his power saber. The gate closed at an steady rate while the orks closed the distance with frightening speed. The entrance slammed shut just in time but the xenos could be heard firing at the metal with their primitive weapons, as they desperately tried to punch their way through the thick adamantium.

Inquisitor Arcturus reemerged from the citadel, armed with dual lighting claws and a plethora of ordinance clamped to her belt.

"Glad you decided to rejoin us inquisitor." Foresh commented sourly.

"I did not the expect the orks to arrive so soon Zangairius," replied Arya, "I hope your men have the heavy weapons ready."

"Of course, the gates should hold long enough until-" The Lord General was interrupted by a screeching sound emanating from the entrance.

There was a large tear in the slabs of adamantium, the ork warboss stomped his way inside brandishing his power klaw, the kustomized force field absorbing the lasbeams fired by the panicking guardsmen.

"WRAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!" laughed Warboss Muhara, "Ya better run 'oomies else my boyz'll eat ya alive!"

Zangairius thought for a moment before signaling the guardsmen to fall back. Arya was busying contacting Castella to ask her the condition of the other gates.

"The orks have completely surrounded the citadel, but it looks like the only gate breached is yours, the others are holding for now." Informed Veriux.

"We're going to fall back Castella, we can't hold the main gate. Delay the other orks as long as you can. We need more time." replied Arcturus.
"Acknowledged" the Techpriest responded.

Arya turned to Zangairius, "I'll hold them off, get another defence line set up."

The Lord General looked like he was about to protest before grumbling in agreement. Arcturus looked towards the orks again and saw they were slashing at any guardsmen within range. 

An unfortunate man was about to be cleaved in half by a greenskin before a force turned the ork into ribbons. Thanking the emperor for his life he quickly sprinted back inside the citadel. Arya dashed across the battlefield, keeping as many xenos as she could from harming the guardsmen, the inquisitor was nothing but a blur as she struck. The only signs of her presence were the mangled remains of orks littering the ground. 

Soon enough the greenskins approached the courtyard cautiously, with their Warboss on point. Luckily the guardsmen had evacuated and Arya was the only human in the courtyard. She raised her lightning claws and stood in a fighting stance.

Shaza signalled for his orks to stop, and to Arcturus' surprise they did.

"Yer pretty tuff fer a humie I'll give ya dat." mused the massive Warboss, "But ain't no wun tuffer den ME!"

Muhara charged at Arya, brandishing his power klaw and uttering a warcry. She easily dodged to the side and slashed back at him with her own weapons, but to her surprise again, the ork managed to block it. Sensing astonishment from the human, the Warboss chuckled, "I've picked up a few humie tricks too yeh?"

Unfazed the inquisitor dashed behind him and clawed again, this time sticking a krak grenade on him. "Ehy?" Muttered Muhara before he was englufed in shrapnel and fire, the smoke cleared to reveal an undamaged Warboss. 

"HARHARHARHARHAR!" Laughed Shaza, "Ya got ta try 'arder den dat to git me humie!"

Arya had a slight frown etched on her face; this was going to be on tough ork to kill.

-----

"Where are the escape pods?" questioned Victus as he was scanning the hallway.

"It should be a few hundred meters to our left, assuming the orks have left the pods untouched," replied Xeros.

Icarus visualized the layout of the ork battleship, "That means we need to go through the heart of the ship." He said,

"Unfortunately" sighed the Techpriest,

The trio said no more as they moved through the corridors of the Gitcrusha. Nearing the center of the ship again, they moved fast as possible, without compromising their location, towards the escape pods. A few orks were manning gun batteries, firing away at the shields of the Praetorian. The three of them knew the battleship could hold of a good while, but sheer number of ork guns on this ship alone could wear down the Praetorian soon enough.

They approached a turn at the end of the hallway, immediately Inquisitor Artimec motioned for them to stop. The trio froze, Victus and Xeros casting Icarus curious glances, they were answered soon enough by two gruff voices speaking in broken low gothic.

"Oi, I wunder when we getz ta da fightin'" grumbled an ork,

"Yerr, it'z mighty borin' up 'ere" his comrade replied, "Least we gotz lotza dakka"

"Yar" grunted the first ork.

The steps soon faded into the distance, Icarus made sure no more greenskins were close before proceeding around the corner. Waving for Victus and Xeros to follow, the trio made quick progress toward the escape pods. 

Arriving at their destination, they surveyed the holes where the escape pods should have been. Instead they were faced with a shoddy patch job that had covered the holes with scrap metal. 

"Alright, where to now" sighed Victus,

"Hmmmmm" Xeros checked the auspex again, "Well the orks have boarding pods, perhaps we can use those."

"What about the hangar? Perhaps we can steal one of there ships." suggested Icarus,

Xeros shook his head, "Not enough time, nor do we know if they have an operational vehicle."

"Very well" groaned Victus, "I just hope we don't get shot down by our own batteries"

"Where are their boarding torpedoes?" Inquired Artimec,

"Unknown, but if we follow the orks I'm sure they can lead us to it." replied the Techpriest.

Icarus heard approaching footsteps and motioned for Victus and Xeros to hide. They quickly turned the corner and could hear the same two orks from before speaking,

"Kaptain Orktholomew's lettin' some a da boyz get on da fightin' dakka." said the ork,

"Why doan we get on da boarding fightin' den?" Asked a second greenskin,

"Cuz we'z supposed ta be patrolling da ship" replied the first ork,

"Nuthin's gonna happen ta da ship, no wunz on 'ere cept for our boyz!" countered the second one,

The first greenskin thought about it for a moment, "Yerr, I suppoze yer right, den letz go!"

The two orks doubled back, heading towards the "fighting dakka"

"Should we follow?" Victus asked, 

"It's probably our best bet" replied Artimec,

The two looked at the Techpriest to see if he had any qualms, Xeros only nodded before heading in the direction of the orks.

"Well, no point in waiting" sighed Victus, "Let's go."

-----

The Lord Inquisitor realized she was fighting a unusually intelligent ork.

Other warbosses may be cunning but this one was a genius (by ork standards) Muhara seemed to know every weapon Arya used. His force field deflected the shrapnel and shockwave of her grenades, while he used his massive power klaw to counter Arcturus' own. The Lord Inquisitor was fighting a losing battle, the only reason she remained was to keep the orks in the courtyard for as long as possible. 

"Urk, I'z gettin' board now" grumbled Shazah, pointing his power klaw at the citadel, "WAAAAAAAGH!"

The orks charged enmasse at the citadel, uttering the same warcry as their Muhara. Arya dashed across the advancing ork line, cutting down as many as she could before they reached the entrance.

"Lord Inquisitor, fall back, I will close the gate." Castella spoke, the vox giving her already metallic voice another distorting overtone.

"Affirmative" Arcturus replied, she cut down a few more orks before dashing back to the citadel. The moment she was past the doorway, the citadel's inner gate slammed shut and adamantium bolts locked it close.

She made her way to the centre of the building, weaving through the halls with astonishing speed. Arriving in a hastily set up command centre she noticed Veriux and Zangairius arguing over a holotable. 

"... cannot abandon the citadel." said the Techpriest, 

"Why not?" Countered Foresh, "we will lose more than we gain in attempting to hold this place."

"Because if we leave we sacrifice the vox network, the rest of our weapons and the remaining fortifications we have in place." Castella replied,

"And if we don't leave this fortress the rest of the guardsmen will slaughtered." growled Zangairius,

Castella noticed Arya had arrived, giving her a slight nod she motioned towards the Lord General.

"We do not need to retreat Zangairius" Arcturus said, unsealing her helm and shaking her silver-white hair from its confines.

"That's all fine and well for people like you" sneered Foresh, "But the men don't stand a chance against the orks in close combat."

"We won't have to" Arya replied, bringing up a 3d model of the citadel, "We'll funnel them into the main hall"

"What difference does that make?" scoffed the Lord General, "They will still overwhelm us with their accursed tenacity and numbers."

"No, we have reinforcements" said Inquisitor Arcturus

"The liberation fleet has broken through?"

"No, I told the remaining pockets of guardsmen that did not make it back to the citadel to hide in the hab blocks. This way when we lure the orks into the main hall-" tapping a few keys on the holotable, the model zoomed in to the hall, "we'll crush them between the imperial guardsmen."

"I doubt this will destroy the green tide" Zangairius commented,

Arya replied, "We don't need to, it will buy more time for the liberation fleet."

The Lord General thought for a moment, "Very well, I will inform the troops."

Arcturus nodded, "Now we prepare."

-----

The trio trailed the pair of orks in hope of finding the boarding pods, moving as quietly as possible they arrived at the destination. A sea of greenskins stretched across the modified hangar, huge cylindrical shaped objects forged from scrap metal were being loaded into crudely made cannons. A massive ork stood in the middle of the room, roaring orders and back handing orks as he saw fit. 

"That's Orktholomew!" whispered Victus, his eyes glinting with excitement, "We need to kill him."

"We can't risk being detected and we're outnumbered!" protested Icarus,

"What benefit do we gain from eliminating him?" asked Xeros,

"If we kill Orktholomew, the blockade will be beheaded, the other ships will descend into infighting and allow for battlefleet Zeus to punch through" Victus explained, fingering the hilt of his power saber. 

"Can't we let the detonation kill him?" Artimec suggested,

"Apparently not" replied Xeros, "It seems he plans on leading the boarding party."

The trio listened and could make out a speech in broken low gothic,

"Alright boyz, wez about ta git ta da humie ship and show'em who'z da best at fightin'" roared Orktholomew, the greenskins cheering in agreement, "Ain't nuthin' tuffer den a ork! And dere ain't no ork tuffa den Warboss Muhara! WAAAAAAAGH!"

"WAAAAAAAGH!" Cried the xenos crowd clambering to get into the torpedoes,

Before Xeros or Icarus could question why the ork Kaptain had deemed himself inferior, Victus explained: "Orktholomew is ferociously loyal, one of the reasons he was selected to command the ork blockade, in addition to his cunning and trickery."

"We need to move," urged Artimec, "Before he get can get to his boarding pod." The inquisitor moved with blinding speed, covering vast swathes of ground in mere milliseconds. 

"Crazy bastard..." muttered Xeros, following after Icarus

The inquisitor had cut through the green tide, several orks lay on the ground with their heads separated from their bodies. As Artimec neared the Kaptain he was backhanded out of his stride, Orktholomew had equipped himself with a massive chain axe, capable splitting a leman russ in two with a single cleave. Icarus dusted himself off and stood straight, charging at the ork who managed to keep Artimec at distance with his axe.

Meanwhile Victus and Xeros were slashing and shooting their way through the green tide. The Techpriest stood a good distance away from the orks, shooting explosive death from his bolt pistol. But the Admiral favored another approach, swinging his power saber back and forth, he cleaved through xenos flesh with ease. The duo attempted to reach Icarus and assist him in fighting the gigantic Kaptain.

Inquisitor Artimec dashed in, ignoring the teeth of the chain axe that struggled ferociously to eat at his flesh, his phase blades effortlessly cut through Orktholomew's armor and biting deep into his flesh. 

"NOW YA MADE ME REALLY ANGRY HUMIE!" roared the ten foot tall ork Kaptain, furiously swiping his chain axe in front of him, hoping to strike Icarus. But the inquisitor was too quick for the brutish efforts of the xenos, quickly sidestepping the attack, he delivered three pinpoint slashes to the greenskin. The first cut open his skull, the second decapitated the ork and the final slice eviscerated his heart, all in less than a second.

Orktholomew's face was frozen in a war cry as his head fell from his shoulders, the hulk of xenos flesh toppling over. Icarus looked over at Victus and Xeros, the duo had finished off the orks that had not launched, standing atop a veritable mountain of greenskins. Inquisitor Artimec checked where the chain axe had struck him, a deep gash across his chest plate; but not deep enough to touch his flesh. The metal of his aegis armor seemed to flex and bend at the wound, before the armor flowed into the gash and returned to its original form.

Xeros was wide eyed at the spectacle while Victus merely cleaned his power saber of ork blood by wiping it on the rags of the greenskins.

To say the Techpriest was speechless was an understatement. 

Xeros was so full of thoughts but could not articulate his vox cords to speak, he had seen the inquisitor use no less than a body full of xenos tech and weapons. The admiral grabbed him by the collar and walked him forward, "We'll talk about it when the battle's over."

The trio quickly boarded the pod intended for Orktholomew and his retinue, they launched back into space, where the ork and imperial fleets traded hundreds of salvoes.

"Praetorian is this Admiral Victus, we are aboard an ork boarding torpedo, do not fire at us. Transmitting rendezvous coordinates."

-----

Arya confronted Warboss Muhara once again, this time to lure him into the hall.

"Ehy, wud ya look at dat, seems da humie's back fer more." Shazah chuckled, "I'm not gunna let ya run away dis time ya git."

The orks surrounded Arcturus, banging there weapons into the floor of the citadel, unsurprisingly enough the inner gate put up no more resistance than the other outer one had. The greenskins had formed a ring around the Warboss and the Inquisitor Lord, Muhara slowly stalked Arya, his beady red eyes never leaving the eyes of her helmet. She did likewise and kept her lightning claws raised, the Warboss was armed similarly but his power klaw seemed to be half the size of Arcturus herself, his other hand was bare, save for the metal exoskeleton had extended to his fist. 

The inquisitor frowned,she felt something prodding at her mind, there was a distortion in the warp. Concentrating as best as she could without taking her eyes off the ork. Focusing her efforts on finding the source of the disturbance, the energy seemed to radiate off of the greenskin. She narrowed her violet eyes, wary of the unidentified power wafting from the xenos. 

Arya struck first, appearing next to the ten foot tall ork and slashing at his armor. To her utter surprise, the claws skittered over the armor, the power field surrounding her blades seemingly having no effect, save for the paint that had been scratched off, leaving silvery marks across his back.

She knew the greenskin was well protected but her claws should have been able to at least cut the armor, but she had only left aesthetic damage on the xenos.

"HARHARHAR, surprized ehy? Ya can't 'urt me humie!" taunted the Warboss, catching her astonished pause, he pounding his power klaw against his chest, the rest of the horde mimicked the action, roaring their admiration.

Arya slowly stepped backwards until she was mere inches away from the border of the ork circle, she cleaved through the ork behind her, swiping her way through the crowd.

"Oi! Da humie'z gettin' away!" yelled Shazah, "Get 'er!"

The ring broke as the green tide surged after her, Arcturus had no worries as the slow greenskins had no chance of catching the lithe inquisitor. But she needed to slow herself so the orks could see where she ran, after weaving through a series of twists and turns with the xenos dogging at her heels, she arrived at the great hall with the greenskins in pursuit.

The high ceiling and elegant arches passed over her head while the white tiles on the floor were cracked by the force of her armored foot steps. Elegant drapes covered the walls, observing whatever lay behind the pieces of fabric. The hall had been relatively untouched by the fighting, but all that was about to change.

She stopped in front of the fifteen foot tall barrier that spanned the width of the hall, quickly attempting to contact the second group of guardsmen, recieving no response she turned around. The orks had caught up with her, only to be met by las guns and krak grenades fired from the guardsmen atop the barrier. The first of the orks fell before the rest of them smartened up and approached the hall cautiously.

"Oi, 'ard boyz, get in da front ya gitz!" roared the Warboss, 

Several orks with pieces of metal bolted to their bodies and carrying heavy sheets of metal formed a line. The las fire was quickly soaked up by the greenskins and they slowly advancing in something similar to a phalanx. As the orks neared the barrier, Muhara hefted something in his free hand, he pulled the pin from it and lobbed it over the barrier. A split second later it became clear what the object he threw was: a vortex grenade.

A rift appeared where the grenade detonated, sucking in tile, fabric and men alike. Arya cursed under her breath as raw warp stuff poured from the rift, jumping over the barrier she moved as fast as she could away from the source. Her speed was the only thing keeping her from getting dragged into the warp, but the guardsmen around her were not so lucky. 

The grenade faded out a few seconds later, leaving the hall in ruins. The tiles from the floor were no where to be found, the drapes had been torn from the walls and a large crater emanated from the detonation point. Anything that had not been secured was sucked into the rift, along with many things that were. Several guardsmen, as well as orks had been pulled in as well. But the barrier had been torn away, giving the greenskins access to the innards of the citadel.

Arya ran back to find Zangairius, while broadcasting a message: "All imperial forces retreat to the command center, prepare for operation Thermopylae."

She found him talking into vox caster in the base and walked towards him, he saw her and quickly cut the connection to meet the inquisitor.
"I told this wouldn't work" he growled, "We've wasted manpower and supplies on a futile effort."

"They had a vortex grenade Zangairius" Arcturus replied flatly, "There was nothing anyone could do."

"Well your a psyker aren't you?" Foresh asked, "Can't you stop it?"

Arya agave an exasperated sigh, "No, because the warp is where I draw my power from, attempting to close it with the same energy is like trying to put out an inferno with more fire."

"Useless..." Zangairius muttered under his breath, too quiet for a normal human to hear, but the inquisitor's ears were extremely sharp and did not miss the Lord General's comment.

Pretending not to hear it, Arcturus continued, "We need to gather the rest of the guardsmen to prepare a last stand and hope the liberation fleet breaks through in time."

"I'll call any surviving guardsmen to the command centre, if we die, I'm going to make sure the orks pay dearly for it." Zangairius said with fire in his eyes,

Arya nodded, "Good, we need to buy as much time as possible. Call the guardsmen."

As the Lord General left, Odinfoot entered the command centre, the commissar was sporting a bolt pistol and power fist, both strapped to his belt. 

"Where were you Ramiel? We could have used your help" greeted Arcturus,

"Trying to hold the west gate" replied the regimental commissar, "We were doing fine until we got flanked by orks from the main gate."
"How many men are under your command Odinfoot?" questioned the Inquisitor Lord,

"Were" Ramiel answered bitterly, "There's fewer than ten of them now after we were surrounded by the orks."

Arya pressed him for more information, "How did you escape?"

"One of my men strapped all of our grenades on him and ran into the ork lines" Odinfoot laughed bitterly, "He managed to buy us time to escape." 

Arya spoke, "I'm sorry"

The Regimental Commissar nodded, "It's not your fault, none of us were prepared for those damned orks."

As Arcturus opened her mouth to reply, Zangairius returned with several squads of guardsmen trailing after him, 

"Lord General we need to-" Arya began but was cut off by several warcries from a hallway and hundreds of orks poured forward. Spotting the humans the xenos quickly charged them, hoping to get within melee distance to smash as they please. 

The Lord Inquisitor dashed from the command centre and sped towards the greenskins, swiping with her lightning claws, the first few orks were reduced to ribbons by what they perceived as a flash of silver. The green tide surged forward none the less, unaffected by the mangled remains of their comrades. The guardsmen were quick to react and soon spat hot death from their lasguns, searing ork flesh and felling several xenos. 

Ramiel and Zangairius leaped into the fray, their power weapons managed to keep some of the orks from reaching the imperial line. Combined with Arya's lightning claws they reaped a great toll upon the xenos horde. 

But even with all their might, they knew the green tide could not be stopped.

-----

The trio floated in space, waiting to be picked up. They felt something latch on to the boarding pod and began to move. Victus and Xeros breathed sighs of relief, their tasks were relatively easy now; the ork fleet was broken and beheaded, all that was left to do was purge the rest of the greenskins. 

Icarus was still due to land on Dionysus, his extensive study within the Ordo Xenos was invaluable against the orks. Docking within the apocalypse class battleship, the boarding torpedo was cut open by Inquisitor Artimec's phase blades again. Icarus kicked the eight by three segment of metal he had sliced and it fell to form a fairly smooth ramp for the trio to depart. They were greeted with the sight of the crew running about, preparing fighters and bombers now that Gitcrusha had been dealt with. 

The three returned to the bridge as fast as they could, not wanting to waste any time. Admiral Victus took his seat, the Techpriest was checking through battle reports on a terminal and Icarus stood looking at pict feeds of the battle. The trio had cast curious glances at Parius who bore even more bandages than before, when Artimec questioned him on it his only response had been,

"I'll tell you all about it over a bottle of Dionysian amasec... oh and when my chest stops hurting like hell."

Swarms of imperial craft flew from battlefleet Zeus, converging on ork ships. Even with the obvious human threat the stupid xenos had turned on each other, hoping to kill enough of their own kind to be recognized as the new Kaptain.

Progress was steady, but the sheer number of xenos ships proved more of a problem than the greenskins themselves. Icarus waited impatiently, flicking his phase blades in and out of their sheaths. Just when he was on the verge of taking a Valkyrie and flying it to Dionysus himself, Xeros began to shout excitedly,

"The Astartes fleet has arrived!"

Artimec joined him at the auspex scanner and saw that several green blips had appeared at the edge of the system and more were arriving. Soon enough the pict feeds were filled with battle barges and strike cruisers, each from a different chapter. Joining the battlefleet, their combined firepower was speeding progress considerably. 

Icarus left the bridge and made his way back to the hangar, where his vehicle was being prepped for launch. Checking his armor and phase blades the inquisitor entered the craft and strapped himself in.

The fleet managed to punch a hole in the thinning blockade. Maneuvering the bottom of the Praetorian to face Dionysus, a single one man drop pod streaked towards the centre of Iliad.

-----

Arya fought a desperate battle in the citadel, she had cleaved through hundreds of orks, her lightning claws thoroughly covered in gore. But for every greenskin she slew it seemed like two more took its place. Zangairius and Ramiel were fairing no better, more and more orks slipped past them and slaughtered several guardsmen before finally being put down by a lucky las shots.

Odinfoot's power fist looked like the hand of Khorne, covered in ork flesh and drenched in blood, the power field was still active though, so he kept swiping with it, his bolt pistol had run out of ammunition long ago. Foresh's arms were beginning to tire from swinging his sword at the orks, he had killed an immense amount himself but the torrent of greenskins never stopped. 

Warboss Muhara stomped into the command centre, "Yerr, if ya want sumthin' smashed right, ya gotta smash it yerself." he grumbled,

He backhanded his way to the front of the horde and came face to face with Arya again,

"Time fer round two humie" Shazah snickered, "Yerr guna get it dis time." the greenskins formed a circle around the Warboss and the inquisitor lord, allowing the two to duel without interference, even as the battle raged around them.

Unfazed, Arcturus dashed at the xenos, aiming for the unprotected parts of the body. A rather difficult feat, considering that every part of the greenskin had metal bolted to or covering him, save for his jaw. She struck at his mouth but the surprisingly fast ork managed to snap his chin up, the spiky metal managed to deflect her claws without much effort. 

The humongous greenskin growled, a noise that sounded like a mountain vibrating, before lunging back at Arya, she hopped to the side but the blade of his power klaw managed to cut a slight gash in the left side of her chest plate. Not enough to draw blood, but enough to make the Inquisitor Lord wary of his strikes. They circled each other, much like their previous duel, except this time Arya had no where to run. 

The third strike also belonged to the Warboss, he aimed for her heart but was blocked by Arcturus' lightning claws. With an extra four feet of height, Muhara was pressing down on the comparatively diminutive Lord Inquisitor. Her arms shook with exertion but Shazah was amazed that the little (by ork standards) human was managing to resist. 

With a roar Arya forced him back and slashed at his face, grazing his right cheek and drawing a trickle of blood. The Warboss laughed, "WRAHAHAHAHA! seems da humie'z tuffer den expected ehy?!" He rushed at Arcturus again with his power klaw open,intent on catching her in his weapon. Realizing what he wanted to do, Arya attempted to sidestep past the ork, but Muhara thrust out his arm and caught the inquisitor in his grip. With a toothy grin he raised Arcturus by the throat and prepared to snap her neck.

Under her helmet, the Lord Inquisitor's' eyes flared a bright violet, lightning shooting forth from her body and throwing the Warboss to the other side of the ork circle. 

Landing on his feet, Muhara rubbed his head, his eyes flashed with anger. The inquisitor blinked in surprise; the lightning should have stunned him at the very least, something wasn't right... They stalked each other once more, Arya wary of his tricks and the Warboss acknowledging her abilities. The pair clashed again, power fields crackling as their weapons smashed into each other. They met in the middle of the makeshift ring, claws crossed. Both of them were attempting to gain the upper hand, Arya's strength was holding him back; but just barely and she couldn't keep this up for much longer.

"Weirdboy! Now!" Shazah shouted, shoving the Inquisitor Lord back,

A bolt of green energy arced from the xenos crowd and impacted Arcturus' chest plate, blackening the ceramite and destroying the engravings. She stumbled backwards, gasping for breath as she raised her lightning claws in a futile effort to protect herself. The Warboss slowly stepped towards her, savoring the victory, he roared a warcry and the green tide answered in kind. Muhara stepped in front of Arya raising his lightning klaw, the Lord Inquisitor closed her eyes, preparing for the inevitable strike that would end her life.

Instead a loud explosion echoed through the command centre, everyone, including the orks stopped fighting for a split second to see what had caused the ruckus. The answer became evident when the dust cleared and a drop pod opened to reveal Inquisitor Icarus Artimec. He wasted no time and dashed from his pod to the ork horde, cutting them down before the xenos realized what was happening. Arya used this as a distraction to cut her way through greenskin ring, Muhara noticed this and tried to grab her. A lance of fire launched from Artimec's fingertips and struck the Warboss square in the chest.

Shazah was thrown back into his circle, squishing several orks underneath his considerable weight. The battle resumed quickly but Arya had made her way back to the Lord General and Regimental Commissar. The Inquisitor Lord quickly joined Icarus in cutting down the green tide. The pair moved in concert, performing a deadly blade dance, their judges being the amount of xenos remains littering the floor. 

An ork ran up to Muhara, "Uh boss? da sky'z on fire!" 

The Warboss whipped around to face the terrified greenskin, "You'z betta be lyin' ta me boy and I doan likez bein' lied ta!"

The humongous ork carefully studied the boyz' face, fear was etched into it and Muhara realized he was telling the truth, smashing the greenskin into a bloody pulp out of frustration, Shazah roared, "Letz get outta 'ere!"

The green tide began to recede, wary of the two humans that had killed so many of them. Arya and Icarus paused in their slaughter to watch the orks retreat, the pair of inquisitors stood their ground and waited until the last greenskin left the command centre before turning their backs.

Odinfoot was out of breath, his power fist had run out of energy and he had resorted to using it as a mace, smashing whatever he could using his raw strength. Zangairius faired slightly better, the sharp edge of his power saber allowed him to use it as a sword, similar to the ancient Terran days. The majority of the guardsmen had been slain by the orks that had gotten past Ramiel and Foresh, but the few remaining soldiers were happy to be alive.

The Lord General grumbled, "It's about damn time you showed up, nearly all of the guardsmen are dead"

"The ork blockade proved to be more resistant than we first expected" Icarus replied, his tone neutral,

"It does not matter now" Arya interrupted, "The liberation fleet has broken through?"

"Yes Lord Inquisitor" Artimec replied, "The battlefleet is destroying the last of their ships as we speak."

"Excellent, we will reconquer Dionysus once all Imperial forces have arrived on the planet." Arya said,

They walked out of the command centre, tired of the stench of dead ork and human flesh that pervaded the air. Moving through the ruins of the great hall they arrived at the courtyard of the main gate.

Everyone looked towards the sky and saw hundreds of fiery streaks in the atmosphere, the space marine drop pods had followed Icarus' example and soon were landing on the planet. Delivering the Emperor's finest to purge the orks with faith and fury. 

"It is time to retake this planet" Arya spoke with fire in her voice, "and show the xenos the might of the Imperium."

Is my story badly written and/or boring?
Four parts posted and still no feedback ;-;
If I'm doing anything wrong/strangely please feel free to tell me so I can become better writer for you guys

I've only read the first chapter, but I'll get back to the others later. Don't be put off by the lack of comments, a lot of people don't tend to leave comments in Dakka Fiction, they just read the stoies and go, either because they don't have much to say or because you didn't ask about anything specific.

Keep at it, don't be deterred, and keep writing because you enjoy it. I always say that we writers would still do so even if there was no one to read it; if you've got a story to tell, tell it.

What I've read is good, nice and action-packed, but if you want a little critique, I'd try and put in some more about what the characters are thinking and feeling as stuff happens. The narrative element of saying what is happening is great, but people are going to take more interest in characters if they can get to know their thoughts, feelings and personalities.

For example, when the Ork fleet arrives, what is the Captain thinking? When the Commissar executes the fleeing guardsmen, does he feel any remorse or regret? The characters are what makes a story good, so maybe work a little more on them rather than just narrating a tale.

Good stuff, though, keep going!

Good point, I kinda forgot about that XD
I'll be sure to incorporate that into my next chapter
Thx

The imperial battlefleet had scoured the system of all ork ships and was in the progress of unloading troops onto Dionysus. Assault boats, Valkyries and Thunderhawks filled the sky and landed at the airfields just outside Iliad, bringing in ammunition, medicine, food and other much needed supplies. 

Space marines from the Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Blood Ravens and many other chapters had sent token forces to Dionysus to assist in the battle for the planet. Their battle barges and strike cruisers orbited overhead, ready to unleash their drop pods upon the enemies of the emperor at a moment's notice.

The Adeptus Mechanicus had not slackened either, sending a coveted Warmonger class Titan to the planet. The avatar of the machine god was praised for it legendary firepower and resilience, providing a monument to the power of the Emperor. It was commanded by Dante Tiven, a skilled and accomplished High Princeps from the Legio Ferrus. 

Regiments of guardsmen had been brought from distant systems and diverted to Dionysus. They had been selected for their familiarity with orks, their knowledge was a valuable asset to the battle. Combined with Icarus' studies within the Ordo Xenos they had a considerable advantage.

Victus elected to stay with the Praetorian, overseeing repairs for the damage the battleship had sustained. The admiral allowed Parius to go planet side, seeing his impressive skills with a chain sword being more useful battling orks than floating in space. Xeros decided to accompany Jonah, still retaining an abundance of question for Icarus.

The inquisitors took quarters inside the citadel, a fitting reward after saving it from destruction. Most of the rooms had remained untouched, the marauding greenskins could only destroy so much before they were drive out of Iliad. Arya and Icarus' quarters had once been the planetary governor's, a massive series of rooms, spanning a third of the entire citadel. 

There were more bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens than they cared to count. Artimec decided to take a smaller bedroom, his reason being that he was more comfortable in a smaller space. Arcturus was instated into the now dead governor's room. It seemed the previous tenant had extravagant tastes, a massive bed spanned half of the room, richly decorated in gold and red curtains with bed sheets made of silk, the bed frame seemed to be made of solid gold and the floor was cushioned with plush carpets. A row of golden cabinets covered the left side of the room, holding a staggering amount of outfits the governor could choose from. The other side of the bedroom held a massive mirror that fit into the entire wall, allowing several people to admire their reflection simultaneously. An arching door led to an equally exorbitant bathroom, a ten feet square and three feet deep bath tub dominated the center of the space. Surrounded by several gold plated refrigerators holding whatever type of delicacy was available on Dionysus.

She rolled her violet eyes at the sights, glad that whoever had ruled the planet was dead. Dionysus had been named after an ancient terran god, one the primitive humans had worshipped before the Emperor appeared. From what little information could be recovered from those times, it seemed that Dionysus was an avatar of grape harvests and wine, both the creation and consumption of; all of which the planet's population exceeded in spades. This behavior was tolerated due to the planet's main export: its exquisite alcohol, fermented from the grapes produced in the special vineyards found only on Dionysus. It had been the site of a small skirmish during the Horus Heresy, but nothing major.
Arya thought to herself that all the money that had gone to furnishing the governor's quarters, could have been used upgrade the capital's defenses. The turrets had been pitiful condition, the targeting cogitators on most of the turrets were damaged in some way, either from neglect or drunken carelessness. The ammunition for the heavy bolters and auto cannons were in even worse shape, most of it had been so rusted they formed metal blobs and the little useable rounds that remained were pitifully insufficient.

Icarus' room was located next to Arya's, it likely belonged to the governor's personal servant. It was far more humble and that was the reason he chose it. A simple bed was pushed to the back wall, the bed frame made of wood, a comfortable white mattress and bed sheets rested on the frame. There was another door that lead to a small bathroom, complete with a toilet, shower and sink. When the Aegis armored inquisitor entered the room he felt a certain sense of comfort. He could not explain it but he always preferred smaller spaces whenever possible, despite his massive size.

The guardsmen were in awe of the space marines, better known as the Emperor's Angels of Death. Each marine a one man army, nigh indestructible and armed with enough firepower to destroy an entire regiment by himself; or so the legends told. But the truth was far simpler, despite all of their enhancements, organ implants, armor, weapons and training, they were still human. Albeit much more resilient and powerful than the ordinary man. Still the mere presence of the Astartes was enough to cause excited whispers to ripple through the camps and raise morale by a significant amount.

There were also rumors of an assassin from the Vindicare temple bound for Dionysus. It was said that a Vindicare assassin was a being of absolute perfection in their arts, never missing a shot and able to melt into the shadows at will. A kill order on a target by the Vindicare temple was as good as dead. Their rifles were instruments of quiet, precise death, a single round could penetrate a land raider but silent enough to be mistaken for a falling leaf. These were not far from the truth, their accuracy was the stuff of legends and their infiltration and exfiltration skills were on par with ghosts. 

But both the Astartes and Vindicare paled in comparison to the God-Machine that was the Warmonger class titan: Excidio of the Legio Ferrus. It towered over the city walls, hundreds of meters of Mechanicus assembled parts, each and every piece blessed by the Adeptus Ministorum. The titan bristled with weapons, fulfilling its role as a dedicated fire support unit, ready to lay waste to whatever target its Princeps designated. Operated and protected by crews of moderatii, techpriests and the fearsome skitarii.

Icarus found himself enraptured by the Titan more than anything else. It seemed to beckon to him like a Tyranid drawn to a psychic beacon. He found himself staring at it when he walked to and from the camp, he wanted to explore the god-machine, but knew he needed to prepare for the attack. But vowed to himself, once the battle was over he would enter the Titan.

He and Arya made their way to the command centre in the middle of the Guardsmen camp. Both of them dressed in their armors, Arcturus with her master-crafted Ignatus power armor, repaired after her duel with Warboss Muhara. Artimec equipped with his artificer Aegis armor, complete with his dual c'tan please blades. The Astartes chose to remain in orbit to retain the practice of their daily rituals, and partly to keep themselves from distracting the Guardsmen. There was also tension between some chapters, the most prominent being the distrust of sorcery from the Space Wolves.

"Icarus, have you remembered anything?" Lord Inquisitor Arcturus asked,

"No Inquisitor" replied Artimec as he shook his head in frustration, "But I feel as though I have a special affinity for machinery"

Arya thought for a moment, curious, "Describe the feeling"

"I am... Drawn towards the titan Excidio, I have an instinctual feeling of how equipment works without prior instruction and aboard the Gitcrusha I could analyze the environment almost instantly." He mused, thinking back to the time just after the Valkyrie crash,

The Inquisitor Lord nodded, she chose not to explain to Icarus despite knowing full well why he behaved as he did. He needs to recover his memories on his own, I cannot help him, she reminded herself.

Artimec waited for a response as they were walking, receiving none they entered the tent.
They were greeted with the sight of Zangairius, Odinfoot, Parius and someone neither of the recognized. The stranger held great interest, he seemed to have an air of authority about him without effort, his stance was casual but commanding, but his most interesting features were his height and his cloak. He was as tall as Icarus, towering over the other three. His black cloak was made from a material that seemed to melt into the floor, yet it retained its shape. Icarus was fascinated by it, but he forced himself to focus on the briefing. The four of them were poring over several maps and pointing at one only to flip over to another. The inquisitors joined them and were brought up to speed on the discussion.

"The Lord General is suggesting we do a full frontal assault upon the orks. A fool hardy endeavor that is sure to result in more losses than gains." informed the Stranger, his voice sounded like boulders grinding upon each other, deep and rough, yet somehow primordially comforting,

"We have the firepower, do we not?" Zangairius replied, with a hint of annoyance in his voice,

The man's tone remained neutral as he spoke, "Yes, but we should not waste our resources on something that can be handled with finesse."

"But that sort of planning will cost time. Time the orks can take to prepare their defenses making it more difficult for us to destroy them." urged Foresh,

"Gentlemen" boomed Icarus' voice, amplified by the vox within his helm, "My apologies for interrupting, but there are troubling reports of a Gargant construction yard."

Zangairius did not even attempt to hide his irritation, "I'm sure the Princeps Excidio can handle it... unless he's incompetent like you are..." The Lord General muttered the last part under his breath, Artimec caught the comment but managed to keep his voice level.

"They have been constructing a Gargant ever since the WAAAAAGH! began, its size has exceeded the Excidio and is not yet complete." 
All eyes turned to him as he finished speaking, 

Well, he thought, that certainly got their attention, allowing himself a smirk hidden by his helm,

The stranger coughed, "I believe I have a solution to the problem"

"Oh? And what would that be?" scoffed the Lord General, hiding behind a mask of arrogance even while fear began to eat away at him; his plan was falling apart, he dreaded how is 'benefactor' would react to such news.

The man did not reply but another figure, with more feminine curves entered the tent stealthily enough that neither Icarus nor Arya noticed her arrival until she was next to the Stranger. The inquisitors cast a glance at each other and at the second cloaked figure, both were impressed by the person that managed to move quieter than a space marine's Lyman ear. Her hood was pushed back by a pair of slender and delicate hands, it slid back to reveal a stunningly beautiful face, along with a waterfall of dark red brown hair that extended to her waist. Her angular eyes were the color of smoldering amber that seemed to dance with amusement. The woman's face was pleasantly round, anointed by a small nose and thin lips. She was rather short at five feet, four inches, but at times her small size proved useful. She could be no older than thirty, yet her posture and stance spoke of someone with much more experience. 

"This is first class assassin Kaira Shizumi of the Vindicare Temple" The man introduced, "She has proven most talented in her assignments, the temple has acquiesced to allow her operation on Dionysus."

As expected, the Lord General was the first to speak, "Do we have proof of her abilities?"

The stranger replied with his soothing voice, "I trust you remember the Dolien uprising?"

Zangairius grunted his confirmation, he had seen reports of it. Billions of hive citizens from from the rebel planet had taken up arms, their governor unsatisfied with the constant nagging of the Administratum. The heresy had swept over the entire system before the Imperium could react, yet a single assassin had infiltrated the impenetrable fortress. Moving through the estate with no more presence than a shadow, the assassin had captured the rebel governor and held him ransom, broadcasting the image across the system. The billions of soldiers stood down at his command and soon the heresy was quelled, the lone assassin succeeding where even the Astartes would have failed.

"That assassin is Kaira" the man concluded, Odinfoot's eyes shone with admiration, glad that lives had not been unnecessarily spent. Zangairius still retained his arrogance, unmoved by Torias' extraordinary feat. The inquisitors shared the same thought: Let's see what she's capable of.

Foresh spoke again, "How fast can she destroy the construction yard?"

"Lord General, one cannot be rushed in a task such as-" the man began but was interrupted by Kaira, her voice was like honeyed wine, high and sweet, it whispered of things that once were and could be. Odinfoot blinked at the sound, Zangairius flinched in surprise, Icarus was intrigued by the voice while Arya remained impassive.

"Give me three days" she whispered, with a hint of laughter in her voice,

Zangairius replied with a smirk tugging at his lips, "Impressive, but we will see if you live up to your legendary status"

The stranger shifted uncomfortably, implying that even he did not think it was possible. "Very well, I trust in your abilities, Shizumi."

The Assassin glided out of the tent with no more noise than when she had first entered,

"Now that's settled we need to form a plan of attack..." Foresh began,

-----

Kaira quickly gathered her items, a twenty eight inch long katana, honed to a mono molecular edge and blessed by the Adeptus Ministorum. Her trademark Exitus rifle, a one point eight seven meter object of absolute destruction; in the right hands, such as her own of course. She disliked the spy mask, but finding its sophisticated systems too useful to discard. Shizumi tucked her hair into her stealth suit, a difficult task but it was muscle memory to her. She took several differing types of rounds for her Exitus rifle, as well as explosive charges and incendiaries. 

Kaira activated the camouflage on her stealth suit and moved quietly past the tents. She disliked being stared at by the guardsmen with superstition, besides, years of assignments where the sound of a breath could have been her last, gave her the habit of staying out of sight. With her katana at her side and rifle on her back, she slipped out the camp and headed toward the ork lines with a small smile on her lips.

This was going to be fun.

-----

Zangairius had retired to his tent, he had been given the option of taking a room inside the citadel, but after learning the inquisitors were instated there he declined, despite the fact he hated living in makeshift quarters when a proper room was less than a mile away. With all his being he cursed Icarus and Arya to die as painfully as possible. He went to his bathroom, nothing more than a connecting tent with a shower, sink and toilet. Foresh looked himself in the mirror, a man of age thirty stared back at him, slicked back hair occupied the top of his head, brown eyes that had once burned with ambition, were now hollow with fear. His thin lips twitched involuntarily, Zangairius splashed water onto his face, a futile attempt to wash away the paranoia that clung to him like a cloud of darkness, casting shadows on whatever he did or saw, he sighed and exited the bathroom. Foresh sat down on his bed, undressing himself from his carapace armor and setting it on the mannequin opposite him. He stared at the green wall of his tent and thought back to the day that had gotten him in this mess...

-----

The sky was filled with the color of gold, the sun half way setting over the horizon. The clang of metal rang throughout the air, followed by a an excited cheer. Zangairius and another man were dueling, with a crowd of people watching them. Foresh's opponent was a man with grey eyes, flecked with black, creating an interesting contrast. His hair was tied back in a ponytail, moving wildly as they parried each other's strikes. A scar ran the left side of his cheek, coming dangerously close to his mouth. The man's name was Admiral Zhaxilian Victus. His eyes narrowed in an attempt to read Foresh's moves, his rapier twitching ever so slightly. His boot tip dragged slightly on the dirt surface, causing an almost imperceptible hitch in the Lord General's stride. But Victus lunged forth and the same metal ring filled the air, the two swords met. The men behind them strained in an effort to gain the upper hand, Zhaxilian was slightly taller, by no more than an inch, standing at six foot five inches. But it allowed the Admiral to press down on Foresh with his blade,

"You could have saved her" Zangairius whispered, 

"I had no choice" replied Victus through gritted teeth,

Foresh's eyes flared in wrath, "You of all people had choices"

They remained entwined, as intimate as lovers before the Lord General pushed him back with a grunt and followed with a thrust of his rapier, aiming for his ribcage. 

"You of all people had choices..." Zangairius whispered again to no one.

-----

Foresh shook himself from his lapse, the feelings of that day faded away. He would have his revenge soon enough, if everything proceeded according to his plan, which at the moment was falling apart. The Lord General assembled himself and prepared to give his report, closing his eyes he waited for the presence. 

A rich, mellifluous voice filled his mind, the very sound of it beguiling Zangairius to bend to the owners demands. Without a word Foresh began to speak, 

"An assassin of the Vindicare temple has arrived, she has departed for the Gargant construction yard, she is expected to destroy it within three days. The Warmonger class titan Excidio has been deployed, controlled by High Princeps Dante Tiven. Twenty three Astartes chapters have their ships in low orbit - the Lord General could feel slight amusement from the presence at the mention of the space marines - and six regiments of guardsmen renowned for their expertise with the orks are on the planet. I am doing everything I can to give you more time."

It spoke, "Do not relent" and the presence was gone from Foresh's mind.

-----

Icarus returned to his room in the citadel, not out of fatigue but out of the fact that he had nothing to do for another four hours. He ducked under the door frame, too tall to fit through it at full height. He willed the machine spirit to unseal his helm and it followed. Artimec lifted it off and ruffled his silver white hair, before moving to scratch at his strong jaw line. His emerald eyes were surrounded by a chiseled face that was covered in silvery marks. The inquisitor had never end figured out where the marks came from or how to control them. He carefully began to remove his Aegis armor, piece by piece it was set on the floor to reveal a sculpted body, again covered in those same marks. The whole process took no more than five minutes.

He dressed in a simple tunic and pants before lying down on the bed. He probed at the barrier in his mind before giving up in frustration. No matter how hard he tried it didn't budge. It never budged. He gave an exasperated sigh and heard a knock on his door. Icarus opened it and was face to face with Xeros who glared suspiciously at him. 

"I need to talk to you."

Artimec motioned for him to come in, the Techpriest quickly entered and Icarus shut the door. 

"What in the Emperor's name are your weapons and armor made of?" Xeros whispered furiously. 

Icarus leaned against the wall with an expression of amusement, only to be reminded by a loud groaning of his considerable weight, "What do you think?"

The Enginseer's eyes narrowed, "Don't play games with me inquisitor"

Artimec sighed again, "My weapons are c'tan phase blades, my armor made from necrodermis, if my memory is accurate."

"Where is this armour design from? I have not seen it before" Xeros pressed,

Icarus did not know, but felt as if he did, his earlier frustrations returned to him but he answered the Techpriest quietly, "I don't know"

The Enginseer looked as if he wanted to press further but stopped himself, "I did not come here only to question your equipment, but my curiosity has been sated for now" Artimec leveled his forest green eyes with the Techpriest as he continued, "We found something under the city, and I thought someone with your expertise may be able to help."

The inquisitor thought for a moment, intrigued at the prospect, "Let me get dressed"

-----

Soon after, Icarus and Arya were standing before a gate embedded into the ground, located at the center of the city, it was only discovered when the shattered brick was cleared away. The entrance was in the form of a massive imperial Aquila, with several neural interface ports in the center. The inquisitors had several Techpriests following them, all excited at the possibility of discovering archeotech or even better - a functioning STC template. They were brought back from their fantasies by a wordless nod from Arya. Servitors rolled forth and connected themselves to the ports, the mindless drones were used as a test to make sure the ports would not fry whoever interacted with them. Seeing no ill effects on the servitors, the rest of the enginseers proceeded forward, quickly extending their mechandrites, they connected themselves to the ports. 

The Aquila lowered into the ground, splitting him fall and reveal a massive, smooth tunnel under them. The Techpriests gathered themselves and entered into the ground, with the inquisitors on point. Arriving at another gate, this time shaped simply in two rectangles of adamantium with interlocking bolts. Again, they sent the servitor's first, and repeated the process upon each gate they came upon. After unlocking the remaining few, the group came face to face with a twenty five foot tall door. It was engraved with imperial symbols and aquilas, but something was... Wrong with it. The shapes seemed to move of their own accord and faces formed from no where, with expressions of pain, pleasure, hatred and betrayal. Icarus' psychic wards flared, warning him of danger, but he said nothing of it.

"Stay close, let the servitors connect first" Arya ordered, her eyes narrowing,

The mindless drones lumbered forward and connected to the ports, no more than five seconds after they made they're connection, they all burst into warp fire. The Techpriests shied back in fear, while Arya and Icarus stood resolute. A few seconds later, the servitors were nothing more than ash. The enginseers had terror written all over their faces. Inquisitor Arcturus spoke again, "One of you connect to the ports" the Techpriests looked to where the ashes lay and gulped, "that wasn't a suggestion" she continued,

Icarus interrupted, "I'll open it"

He could feel her violet eyes bore in to his helmet, she opened her mouth in protest before it curled into a smile, perhaps it will reveal more of his abilities she thought, nodding for him to proceed, he stepped into a pile of ashes and froze. How was he supposed to interface with the port if he didn't have mechandrites? Arya questioned, to her surprise and that of the techpriests. Several silver wire extended from Icarus' fingertips and inserted themselves into the holes. Inquisitor Artimec's body froze and for a moment he looked brighter than the sun. The entire cavern turned white and several of the Techpriests cried out in pain, Arya's machine spirit reacted faster than her; which is saying something, and disabled the optic sensors of her helmet. She felt a large flare of psychic power at the moment of the flash, she resigned to ask Artimec about it later.

The light faded away a few seconds later and Icarus stood there, still connected. His consciousness was multi tasking rapidly, a litany of reawakening here, one of activation on another, soon enough there was a deep rumbling, something that reminded the inquisitors of the stranger they talked to, a tortured screeching from gears long neglected. Then, silence, as the gates slid open, retracting into the walls.

The room was constructed of adamantium, same as the doors had, difficult to get through. It was completely bare save for the object in the middle and the lights overhead. The Techpriests eyes were wide with wonder, their bodies quivering in excitement, their mechanical parts recovering quickly from the light.

In the center of the room stood a shape that had been spoken of in the studies of the Adeptus Mechanicus. A design that had preceded the Horus Heresy ten thousand years before, so rare that few chapters had them anymore. A Contemptor class Dreadnought.

It was bare silver with black highlights, it looked to be equipped with dual lightning claws, but different from Arya's, these had three claws separated the same distance from each other. On top of its shoulders stood missile launchers, below that there was an insignia of a black wolf on its pauldrons and It was twenty feet tall. Arya gasped sharply as did Icarus, they both knew what that symbol meant.

"Stay back" Arcturus ordered still cautious, she had taken off her helmet and her hair shone brilliantly in the light. Artimec began to step toward the dreadnought, his eyes were unfocused, "Icarus! Stay back!" Arya shouted, she grabbed his shoulder back he kept walking without difficulty, arriving at the leg of the dreadnought, his tendrils snaked forth again and connected to the wires underneath.

Icarus shuddered for a moment, he felt the full weight of his armor on him for a moment as his power generator failed and restarted. The energy had been sucked from his armor to jump start the dreadnought, the Techpriests eyes, and Arya's flickered towards him for a moment before looking back to the dreadnought.

It began to move, millennia old gears and servos were forced into action, their protests in the form of metallic groans. The machine's lightning claws whirled and snapped shut a few time, the missile launchers swiveled on its shoulders. The dreadnought stood slowly to its feet, the head between its shoulders panned from side to side. When it realized there were people in the room, it attacked. The inquisitors eyes glowed in tandem as they summoned psychic chains and bound the dreadnought to the floor. It struggled futilely in its bonds, Arcturus and Artimec both strained to keep the machine in place, then it remained perfectly still and spoke, a booming voice echoed in the room,

"Friend, or foe?"

Arya's violet eyes narrowed in scrutiny, "We are servants of the Imperium"

The dreadnought's shoulders dropped slightly and it lowered its lightning claws in relief,

"Identify yourself dreadnought" Arcturus continued, still suspicious from its violent behaviour,

"I am Kazio Andromedus" the machine rotated its head to look at the inquisitors,

"First Chaplain and Reclusiarch of the Luna Wolves Legion"

-----

Yes it did occur to me that the story could've started here, but I wanted to throw in some backstory
As always, if you haven anything to say, reply to the topic and I hope you enjoy reading this story

Sorry for the delay, I couldn't figure out to what to write for awhile. XD

-----

Kaira arrived near the construction yard three hours after she left the Imperial base. It looked like it was constructed completely from scrap; bits and pieces of metal were bolted or glued together to form an imitation of a wall, painted red and adorned with metal ork skulls. She was a mile away, looking through the scope of her Exitus rifle. 

Dionysus was relatively flat, this allowed for thousands of acres of land to be used a vineyards. It also gave Shizumi great sight lines to her targets, a fact she was grateful for. She was prone in the remains of a vineyard after the orks had thoroughly trampled it, the plants were dead, forming a bushy yellow mat on the ground. The construction yard was at a slightly lower elevation allowing the assassin to observe the entirety of the camp.

It was blindingly obvious for the location of her target. The Gargant towered over the construction yard, if the Vindicare wished to see the top of the unfinished ork titan she would have to stand with her rifle. She could already see hundreds if not thousands of weapons jutting out from the legs, torso and chest. 

Anyone would have been fazed by the task, to destroy something the size of a dauntless class light cruiser, armed with nothing but a few explosives, incendiaries, an Exitus rifle and a sword. But Kaira was not 'anyone', in fact, she grinned at the prospect of a challenge. It would most likely take her the full two days she had remaining to figure our a way to completely destroy the Gargant. 

With her camouflage still active, she slung her sniper rifle over her back and stealthily made her way to the borders of the construction yard. She easily scaled the wall, the bits and pieces of metal that stuck out at odd angles made for excellent foot and handholds. Having memorized the orks' patrol patterns, she jumped down from the wall with no distractions. Shizumi passed through the court yard and soon was at the base of the Gargant. 

She looked upwards and could barely see the top of the unfinished titan, even with the help of her spy mask. Undeterred she proceeded into the machine, intent on mapping it before sabotaging it. It would most likely take her several hours to explore the entirety of the Gargant, but when she finished its weaknesses would be revealed.

-----

Audible gasps could be heard around the room as the dreadnought finished speaking. There were a few moments of silence before Arya spoke,

"Are you traitor?"

Andromedus replied without hesitation, "No, I was sealed here by my loyalist brothers, they intended to preserve the stories of the Luna Wolves." The dreadnought paused, "Who are you?"

"I am Lord Inquisitor Arya Arcturus of the Ordo Malleus and Ordo Hereticus."

Kazio stood motionless for several seconds, " What is an... Inquisitor?"
Arya realized the Inquisition had been created after the Heresy, so there was a good chance that he had been sealed before it.

"Venerable one, we should escort you to the surface and educate you about the current Imperium."

The contemptor stayed motionless, "How can I trust you?"

"You can't" Icarus replied, "We can't prove to you we are loyal until you see for yourself."

The dreadnought continued to think, if they were heretics, he could attempt to kill as many of them as possible and hope he they didn't have reinforcements above ground. But he had seen them restrain and hold him with incredible speed so it had a low chance of success. If they were truly loyalists, then he had nothing to fear.

"I will follow" rumbled Andromedus,

The Inquisitor took their places directly behind Kazio while the Techpriests fanned out in a half crescent beside the Inquisitors. 

Arya whispered to Icarus, "Did you feel anything?"

"Other than something wrong with the last door, no" Artimec replied,

The emerald eyed Inquisitor glanced at the Techpriests, and more specifically, Xeros. They all seemed to be buzzing with excitement, Icarus was fascinated as well; very few contemptor class dreadnought's survived the Horus Heresy, most of them had been destroyed on the front lines. A chance to find a fully functioning and seemingly new contemptor was basically a one in a trillion chance.

After they finally returned to the plaza of Iliad, Kazio followed Icarus to the Mechanicus camp along with most of Techpriests. He only needed four hours of sleep and could easily go on without it, acquiescing, Arya made her way back into the Governor's quarters.

She decided to test the strength of the bed by resting her limbs, still encased in her Ignatus power armour. The entire set weighed six hundred pounds with her in it, four hundred without. Arya cautiously set her leg on the bed, it rested on the surface, only making a slight depression. She sat on the edge and she sank into the mattress a few inches. The Inquisitor scooted backwards until all her weight was supported by the bed, it look like a meteor had impacted the mattress and she was at the centre. She was more intrigued as to how the governor's bed could support the full mass of her armor.

That thought then led Arya to another: why was the bed spanning half of the room and why could it support so much weight. A few seconds later she nearly answered her question before she stopped the line of thought; given how the planet's populace behaved, Arcturus didn't put it above the governor to hold... questionable activities in his own bedroom. She sighed; it was a wonder the planet hadn't fallen to the clutches of Slaanesh.

The Inquisitor commanded the machine spirit to unseal her armour and proceeded to undress. Bit by bit, the ceramite was set on a mannequin to reveal a toned yet fairly curvy body. Arya was certainly well endowed, but not overly so and she was grateful for it: several Planetary Governors had found themselves awakening in an interrogation room, after expecting the violet eyed goddess to be accompanying them into their bed, only to be rendered unconscious and teleported aboard a black ship.

Arya sighed; still, the sight of so many amorous couples through her young life had only fuelled her own longing. But she knew that it was folly to desire love in life as an Inquisitor. She terminated the line of thought before it made her depressed, but... there was one person who she thought could have made the perfect partner...

Inquisitor Arcturus shook herself from her reverie; feeling tired, Arya decided to get some sleep, she knew she could go without rest for a week straight, but it had a way of exacting a toll on her mind. The bed was without blankets or pillows, but the mattress was enough for the Inquisitor. She wasn't worried about being seen by a servant; Arya slept very lightly and had extremely sharp hearing.
-----

"Reclusiarch, I sense no taint upon you. What would you like to know?"

Inquisitor Artimec stood with Dreadnought Andromedus, the latter towered over the former as they conversed. Finding a contemptor had sent the Adeptus Mechanicus into a frenzy of inspection and analyzation. Icarus had to wait for an hour for the Techpriests to leave them alone.

"Tell me the result of the Horus Heresy"

"When did you begin your coma Venerable one?" 

The dreadnought became still for several seconds, attempting to remember when his brothers had deactivated him.

"The Schism of Mars"

Those four words turned every Mechanicus head in range to hear it. That one event was the darkest part in the history of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Few would speak of it not even ten thousand years after it occurred, yet even fewer would speak the name of the traitorous fabricator-general.

Ignoring the glares, Andromedus looked expectantly at the Inquisitor, waiting patiently for him to begin speaking. Icarus took several minutes to gather, review and comb through the major events that had happened in the last ten thousand years.

With a deep breath, Artimec began to recount the reports.

-----

"How many days until we reach the village?"

"Three days at this pace"

Arya growled, the recently dubbed Lord Inquisitor trudging alongside a man in animal hides. His black hair was tied back in a short pony tail, his dark eyes constantly shifted; taking in their humid and dark surroundings. He had a scar running diagonally across his nose, marring his tanned skin, it ended just above his lips. The man's calloused hands gripped a spear made of wood and stone, pointing it in front of the duo.
The Inquisitor was not adorned by her artificer Ignatus power armor; a sight like that would have drawn too much attention on the feral world of Chaia Primaris. Yet even without her armor she could have sprinted to the village in less than half the time it took them to walk to it. The only problem was that she could be ensnared or killed by a multitude of different plants and animals between their destination.

Thus, the guide.

Arya remained silent as they walked, her sensitive ears could pick up a multitude of different noises. From the movement of the water beneath their feet to the leaves shifting as a creature stirred. But she couldn't differentiate from what could be a harmless blue stripped raven or a venomous 'demon' cricket.

Her white hair had been dyed black, not wanting to attract any more attention than she already did. Inquisitor Arcturus wore contact lenses that turned her bright violet eyes in black ones. These modifications assisted in blending with the villages, but there was nothing that could be done about her height; she usually towered over most of the native population, her height was only matched by their elite warriors. 

They pair walked in silence before Arya spoke,

"Did any of you know of the target when he arrived?"

The man, his name translated into low gothic was Thorin, replied,

"No, we only assumed it was a shooting star when his ship landed."

The Inquisitor remained silent, cursing the primitive planet.

A series of booming impacts echoed around in the jungle.

Arya narrowed her eyes and asked Thorin what the source of the noise was,

"Ah, that would be the Chaian behemoth knocking down a few trees; don't worry, it won't harm you."

The noise sounded again, only louder this time.

Before she had a chance to question her companion the booms sounded again.

Arya finally woke up and looked towards the door as it opened.

Staring back at her was Icarus, dressed in his Aegis armor.

He stared back.

The difference between them was that Lord Inquisitor Arcturus was not wearing her armor,

Or anything at all.

Arya had already move her hands to cover her chest, but she knew Icarus was as fast as she was and may have accidentally seen her 'womanly assets'.

To the eight foot tall Inquisitor's credit he immediately turned around and faced the open door, allowing the Lord Inquisitor some privacy to dress.

"Inquisitor Lord Arcturus" not much could faze a space marine, but she could practically feel the blush on his cheeks as he spoke, she allowed a small grin to creep up her face, "We have began to organize and assign tasks and are preparing for mobilization of our forces. I did not see you and realized you may have still be sleeping." The space marine Inquisitor paused for a moment and continued, "My apologies for the intrusion Lord Inquisitor, when you did not answer I assumed you to be forcibly unconscious or missing."

The violet eyed woman was sealing her armor as she replied, "Apology accepted Icarus."

She watched as he deflated slightly and her face retained the grin beneath the helmet.

Icarus could feel the heat on his cheeks after he had walked in on Arya naked in bed. In what little memory he had, he could remember facing down massive daemons, humongous orks and a sea of cultists without so much as batting an eye.

Yet when confronted with his undressed mentor, his face felt like the core of Nocturne.

In an effort to distract himself, he reviewed how long it took to explain everything to Andromedus.

It had taken several hours for the lecture to finish. The Reclusiarch's relentless questioning had pushed Icarus' memory but found that he liked talking to the ten thousand year old dreadnought, for some reason it reminded the Inquisitor of himself, although he could not fathom why...

Although when the First Chaplain had questioned him on the design of his armor, Icarus could not answer his query. Neither would Arya when he asked her.

When Arcturus appeared beside the mortified space marine, he was internally shaken out of his reverie.

"Ready to go Icarus?"

The Inquisitor could hear the grin in her voice, nonetheless he nodded, "Of course Lord Arcturus."

The pair departed, a seemingly fitting match to anyone that could be watching; a duo of silver coloured giants moved through the halls with unnerving silence. It was easy to spot which one was female, the curves of her Ignatus armor giving it away. But the sight was no less imposing, six feet five inches of artificer crafted ceramite, repair systems, electro fibre bundles, sensory equipment armed with twin lightning claws and psychic powers.

Fearsome indeed,

The same went for the eight foot tall superhuman that walked in sync with her. The Aegis armour not constructed with ceramite but with necrodermis; it had caused massive controversy and countless questions, but when the armor had fought toe to toe with Bloodletters and Tyranid Genestealers to return without a scratch on the armour or the wearer, the Imperium allowed this one suit to be tolerated; barely.

The phase blades not a concern, seeing as how they were already used by the Callidus assassins, capable of cutting any material but necrodermis with ease. They were Icarus' favourite weapons; the only ones he used when he had trained under Arya. He felt a sense of belonging when he wielded them, it was similar to the amicability he had with the First Chaplain, unexplainable and perplexing; but comforting.

The two walked in a companionable silence through the empty halls.

-----

Kaira agilely jumped up on to a platform holding ammunition,

Lots and lots of ammunition.

The Vindicare made a mental note as she continued deeper into the Gargant. The construct was truly massive, in her twenty years of serving the temple she had seen nothing this gigantic planet side. It had taken her five hours to thoroughly search half of the ork titan and she hadn't found the reactors yet. But she had discovered several caches of ammunition (enough to supply a crusade), hundreds of gun emplacements (enough to arm a regiment) and avoided the legion of orks and gretchins that were hammering away at the Gargant.

So that meant the reactors were embedded into the chest of the titan. The only problems were: they hadn't been installed yet, the orks decided to finish the Gargant completely before inserting the power supply, she had anticipated this and at their rate it would take one more day. This left her half a day to plant all the explosive charges and return to Imperial territory. Her secondary objective was simple: Eliminate Big Mek Dakagrot, Kaira had no doubt he would be personally piloting the titan; making him an easy target when it exploded.

She made her way to the chest of the Gargant and was met with a cavernous empty space, there were few ork patrols and she dodged hem easily.

But now came the most difficult part of the mission for Kaira: Destroying a one thousand meter tall conglomeration of metal with enough weapons and ammunition to supply a chapter of space marines was fun.

Waiting for the orks, however, was not.

Luckily it was already night outside, so the possibility of sleep was there.

The Assassin sighed; she would need to find a good hiding place for the next twenty four hours.

-----

Icarus and Arya stood on the undamaged section of the walls, scanning the assembling Imperial forces.

Ten regiments of Imperial Guardsmen stood in formation as the grey haired Regimental Commissar Odinfoot barked at them. Their las guns were pointed to the sky as they all stared forward, trying their best not to gawk at the sights around them.

Needless to say: They were failing.

Behind them the Warmonger titan Excidio cast a long shadow over the troops, slowly starting its systems while a group of Techpriests chanted Mechanicus litanies. Twin hell storm cannons were equipped on the titan, one on each arm. Complemented by two Gatling blasters on each shoulder and ended with twin Vulcan mega bolters above its 'head'. The entire thing looked like it was carrying a castle on its back. Various sensors were arrayed all over the body, gathering vital information on constructing firing algorithms and determining projectile trajectories.

On either side of the guardsmen were the Space Wolves and Blood Ravens; the Aurelian Crusade had left a black stain upon their relatively short history. The Space Wolves' distrust only grew stronger and they were not alone, the Ultramarines, Raven Guard, Imperial Fists and Iron Hands all watched the Blood Ravens closely. Ramiel had the foresight of placing the Imperial Guard between the conflicting chapters to reduce tension, but this left the guardsmen to be distracted on either side by the Angels of Death.

Fortunately they were mobilizing with no problems, Astartes entered rhinos and land raiders, making up the majority of the front line. While the Guardsmen were ushered into Chimeras and followed behind the space marines. The Excidio slowly lumbered along being careful not to crush the others underfoot. Zangairius had likely climbed in a Chimera, along with Ramiel.

A thorough search of Iliad had uncovered an extremely disturbing fact; the Guardsmen Arya had sent into the hab blocks were all dead. But the problem was the hab blocks were locked, and no ordinance from the orks could have penetrated the walls, the only way to access them from the outside was by inputting the correct password. Combined with the fact that the hab blocks themselves were difficult to find, the mixture made for unpleasant implications.

Setting aside the mystery momentarily, the Imperial Forces moved towards the horizon. The Inquisitors opted to run alongside the caravan, Icarus was still apprehensive about joining the Astartes, seeing as only their vehicles could the weight if him and his armour and Arya hated confined spaces as well. They could feel the eyes on them as they kept up with Chimeras going twenty kilometres per hour. Running with them was Reclusiarch Andromedus, the massive contemptor dreadnought could move faster than most and kept up with the Inquisitors.

It would seem like overkill to anyone watching; a legion of guardsmen and space marines, supported by a fleet of Thunderhawks, Valkyries and Storm Talons from the sky. Reinforced by Predators, Land Raiders, Leman Russes and Chimeras while being shadowed by the Excidio. But the only Imperial territory on the planet was the capital, the rest of the ground belonged to the orks. There were most definitely more Gargants and vehicle yards across the planet, but the largest one was being dealt with by Kaira.

The troops marched for the outlying ork bases, intent on driving the spear of the Imperium deep into the heart of greenskin territory.

-----

Xeros was on board the Excidio, lending a helping hand to the crew of the God Machine. He methodically explored the body of the Titan, marvelling at the sophisticated sensor arrays and massive weapon systems. The Techpriest had the expression of a space marine seeing the Emperor alive with enough suits of Tactical Dreadnought Armour for everyone.

While the Enginseer scurried about like a hamster on coffee, Magos Castella was much more reserved. She examined the technology with a quiet reverence, whispering calming litanies that seemed to make the machinery hum slightly softer. The gentle rise and fall of the Excidio was soothing, the Magos felt it akin to a mother delicately rocking her child to sleep.

Neither of them had the chance to speak with the High Princeps yet. Tiven couldn't be distracted whilst operating the God Machine, lest its consciousness overwhelms his. They settled for wandering around the Excidio until they were needed. Eventually the two of them passed by each other, Xeros memorized her face; Angled almond shaped brown eyes, the face was slightly angular, adorned by a petite nose and thin lips. Castella did likewise, although his nose and mouth were covered by a respirator mask, he still had short black hair and angular blue eyes, a startling and easily recognizable feature.

They headed in opposite directions, Xeros with a slight bounce in his step as he took in his surroundings while the Magos seemed to glide over the metal, her red Mechanicus robes dragging behind her.

-----

Almost...

Almost...

Annnnnnd...

Finally! Their done...

Kaira watched as the crew of orks finished hammering in the reactor; which looked like a bunch of metal compacted into a cube, but then again, most of the things the greenskins made looked like it came from a junkyard. She spotted Dakagrot dressed in a suit of Mega Armour and no doubt intendeing to pilot the Gargant himself, oh well, two birds, one stone. The Vindicare waited for another hour or so before the orks turned their attention elsewhere. An nob stayed near the dormant reactor, seemingly guarding it.

Jumping down from the wires she had been using as a hammock, the Assassin unsheathed her katana and cooly approached the oblivious ork. The greenskin was picking its nose when she struck, the blade passed through it with no resistance. A paper thin line was all that remained of the cut for a moment before the xenos flopped in half.

She tossed a quick burning incendiary on the remains and stalked into the reactor, looking around.

Wires... More wires... Metal...

The Assassin realized there was a large piece of metal in front of her, but the difference of this was that it seemed to have an actual shape to it. Efforts had been made to make it as smooth as possible, but there were a series of dents and scratches covering the object. Kaira hopped on top of it and followed it in a circle; It seemed to be a rather crude looking toroid.

Huh, a fusion reactor...

Hopping on top of the donut shaped metal, she surveyed the ceiling of the reactor. Satisfied with the results, she took the charges from a compartment in her stealth suit and latched them on to the holes in the reactor's outer shell.

With a few taps of a button, the charges were primed and ready to detonate on Kaira's signal. Now the Vindicare jumped down and began the lengthy journey back to the Imperial Forces.

----

A deep, guttural voice growled over the vox network, "Wolf Lord Blackmane standing by on Strike Cruiser Wuuthrad."

"This is Brother-Captain Namior, Blood Ravens are awaiting deployment" rumbled another,

A group of Stormtalons roared above the Inquisitors before an Astartes spoke, "This is Tzu Khan, Skyhammer Squadrons are ready to strike."

Various commanders, both space marine and Imperial Guard confirmed their positions, Arya and Icarus watched silently as the process continued. In the end Zangairius finally won with his plans, the attack would be executed with overwhelming force.

Neither of the Inquisitors liked showing all of their cards at once, especially for something as insignificant as a few ork outposts. There was still no trace of Warboss Muhara yet. But they knew better than to underestimate the greenskins. The Excidio could be seen from miles away due to its height and the flat land. Fortunately, it worked the other way around, Artimec could see the orks were preparing their defences.

Arcturus established a vox link with the Lord General, "Zangairius, scan the area, I don't want any surprises."

There was a small noise, something that sounded like an object being connected with a cogitator. A few seconds later Foresh's voice replied, "Auspex is picking up no ordnance."

"Acknowledged" the Inquisitor Lord replied, the two watched as the Imperial Forces prepared to attack.

-----

Kaira was lazily jogging across the dead field of vineyards, looking forward to some real food, a decontamination and some sleep. The concentrated packs of food and water in her spy mask tasted terrible, but worked. She moved south towards the city, the construction yard had been up north.

The Assassin was disappointed, the mission was not exciting in the slightest. She escaped the camp as easily as she got in, the ork patrols did nothing to hinder her.

But then again, the explosion was bound to be spectacular.

A vox link suddenly popped up in her spy mask,

"Kaira, they have began the assault" a hooded man appeared in the top right corner of her display, "I'm sending you the coordinates of one the ork's leaders. A greenskin by the name of 'Big Nob Hammahgitz', he is in charge of the outer perimeter defences. Have fun."

The Vindicare grinned, just like him to predict that she was getting bored.

She checked her supplies; katana, Exitus rifle, varying types of ammunition, a few more incendiaries, enough food and water to last her another four weeks...

Go back to the camp and do nothing...

Or go kill some orks...

Obviously she chose the orks.

Kaira altered her course slightly and headed towards the battle.

-----

Chimeras, Rhinos and Land Raiders surged forward, rolling on to the no man's land between the greenskins and Imperials.

A series of deafening explosions echoed across the battlefield, a pause and then several more.

The vox came alive with garbled reports from both Astartes and Guardsmen about how their Land Raiders and Chimeras were damaged or dead. Arya muttered a curse before broadcasting her voice across the network,

"Imperial Ground forces retreat, Skyhammer Squadrons being your assault."

The instant Arcturus cut the link, another appeared in the top right of her display, the voice of the Lord General sounded furious, "What in the name of the Emperor do you think your doing?! The ground forces are almost through and we need them to purge the xenos!"

The Lord Inquisitor replied through gritted teeth, although her tone was neutral, "I have faith that the White Scars can handle the greenskins Zangairius."

Foresh was about to utter a retort when another explosion caught both of their eyes. A Stormtalon was blown out of the sky and veered off into an ork settlement, taking out a good chunk of the fortress' wall. Several more soon followed the fate of the first.

The Khan's voice came over the vox, "Anti Aircraft defences are too heavy, we are withdrawing."

Before Zangairius could gloat, she spoke with High Princeps Tiven, "Princeps Dante; Begin bombardment."

All eyes were on the titan as it slowly stepped forward. The sensors had finished gathering the crucial information and the Princeps was ready to strike. Levelling its armaments with the ork line, the Excidio fired.

The noise was absolutely deafening. It was as if an entire hive city was applauding. The air shook as the eight titan sized weapons fired death at the orks. Twin beams of energy shot forth from the hellstorm cannons on its arms, obliterating an outpost.

Thousands of explosive rounds peppered the orks, each and every one fired had been aimed by the advanced targeting cogitators in the heart of the machine. The xenos were mercilessly cut down by the cold precision of the Excidio. But this was only a small part in the greenskin defence, the entire assault theatre stretched a kilometre across and the Warmonger could only cover so much distance.

Soon enough, the projectile weapons fired at the no man's land between the orks and Imperials. Familiar explosions rocked the land, only this time they weren't destroying Guardsmen and Astartes vehicles. The titan carved a safe path for the troops to move through, the space marines were the first ones to move forward, seconded by the Guardsmen.

With the Imperial forces so close to the orks, the Excidio could not fire for risk of striking its allies.

Now the battle began in earnest.

"Tzu Khan, Inquisitor Artimec and I will destroy the ground to air defences, we'll contact you when you can engage."

The White Scar replied, "Acknowledged Lord Inquisitor"

The duo followed the path cleared by the Excidio, they sprinted towards the walls of the orks defences. The guardsmen and space marines had blasted holes in the walls, but were being held back by the greenskins' weaponry and vehicles. The Warmonger reaped a great toll, but the xenos were endless.

"Icarus, you take the right batteries, I'll take the left."

The Astarted Inquisitor nodded before separating from Arya.

The Inquisitress moved past the hulks of burning vehicles and dashed through one of the holes in the twenty foot tall wall. The dumb orks were too busy shooting at the Imperial vehicles to notice her moving through the camp. Fortunately the greenskins were horrendously inaccurate, preferring to saturate the area with as much ordinance as possible.

Arya ran silently towards the gun batteries, quad barrelled piles of scrap with a belt of ammunition flopping out the side. She counted there were at least one hundred of them in this section of the fortress. No doubt there were more in the kilometre long assault theatre. She reconsidered her strategy before contacting Artimec,

"Icarus, ignore the anti aircraft defences for now. Destroy as many gun emplacements as you can on the walls."

She could hear the sound of something hitting the ground, likely the halves of an ork the Astartes finished slashing through.

"Understood, Lord Arcturus."

The Inquisitor Lord opened a vox link to the White Scar Captain,

"Tzu Khan, we are assisting the ground forces, there are too many anti aircraft batteries to destroy."

The space marine was silent for a moment, "Acknowledged Lord Inquisitor, good hunting."

She terminated the link before dashing to walls, effortlessly slicing through orks and their emplacements with her master crafted lightning claws. Yet the sheer number of the greenskin constructs would ensure that the Lord Inquisitor would take time to clear them all.

-----

"Assault Sergeant, prepare for deployment"

Brother-Captain Namior stood behind a Land Raider, parked outside of their heavy weapon range. The xenos were well equipped, the burning husks of rhinos and chimeras attested to that. No one could run past their fields of fire, but that didn't mean no one couldn't jump over them.

Thus the jump packs.

"We are ready Captain Namior."

Three squads of assault marines stood behind him, some armed with chainswords, others with power weapons. The Blood Raven nodded and tensed into a crouch.

"Descend upon them with wings of fire!"

The Astartes took to the skies, leaving white plumes of exhaust behind them. Namior could feel the stares from the Guardsmen as they arced towards the ork. Hundreds of pounds of ceramite smashed the walls into scrap metal as they landed, war cries both space marine and greenskin could be heard as they engaged in ferocious melee.

The Brother-Captain drew his power sword and decapitated an ork

"For the Emperor!"

-----

Icarus looked over to the collapsed section of the fortress, it seemed reinforcements had arrived. The roar of an ork quickly brought his attention back to his present location; a mob of twenty orks and five nobs were surrounding him, all wielding some form of close combat weaponry.

"GIT 'IM BOYZ!"

The greenskins swarmed in swinging their weapons with reckless abandon as they charged at the Inquisitor. Icarus took a deep breath and moved; fast. He became a blur as he dashed from xenos to xenos, puncturing hearts, severing spines and slashing through brains. Armor provided no protection from his phase blades as they swept through the orks with no resistance.

The nobs rushed in soon after, swiping with their power klaws and chopping with their axes. They only hit air as the Astartes dismembered them all in less than three seconds. He stood in a field of green and red, xenos limbs were all over the floor, some ork blood splattered on his armor. Curiously though, the blood was absorbed into the necrodermis, leaving the surface a dark grey, with no hint of the previous contents that had resided on its surface.

The voice of Arya caught his attention, "Icarus, I want you to assist the Blood Raven assault squads in purging the defences."

"Moving now Lord Arcturus."

He leapt on to the wall and began to sprint towards the crimson coloured Astartes.

-----

Namior sheathed his power sword and motioned for the assault marines to group up. He prepared to sweep into the next area when a transmission from Arya arrived,

"Captain Namior, I'm sending some help your way, watch for a dark blur."

The Blood Raven replied, "Lord Inquisitor? A dark blur? What do you..."

He trailed off as he saw something moving at an impressive speed, homing in on the assault marines.

Hearing the pause Arya continued, "And don't mention the Grey Knights."

The blur had stopped in front of him, they stared at each other for a moment; neither Astartes knew how to greet each other, the rest of the space marines stared at them.

'twas awkward, to say the least,

The Blood Raven quickly cleared his throat,

"Brother-Captain Tarquin Namior, Blood Ravens Eighth Company."

"Inquisitor Icarus Artimec, Ordos Xenos and Hereticus."

"We are moving towards the centre of the camp, reconnaissance suggests the coordinator of the defence is there."

Icarus nodded and joined the assault marines as they descended from the walls and stalked through the fortress. The walls were high above them, forcing the Astartes to watch for ambushes. The base stretched a kilometre across and each room was divided from the rest all of them were fifty by fifty feet and most of them had no roofs, the ones that did likely held items importance. The Blood Ravens ignored the rooms as they made their way to the objective in the center of the fortress. No orks were along their path; something was very wrong. The base should have been filled with xenos, yet it looked like they had abandoned it. A battle brother spoke,

"Captain, why do we not use our jump packs?"

Still scanning the walls, Tarquin answered, "I will not risk us descending into an ambush Brother."

Just as he finished speaking several stormboyz arced over the metal and slammed into the space marines. Immediately a green dot turned amber as a battle brother was disabled, Namior drew his sword and gave wordless shout as he charged into the fray.

Icarus flicked out his phase blades and turned into a dark blur, aiming for the orks that were about to deliver mortal strikes to e Astartes. The Blood Ravens could not track the Inquisitor, even with their occulobe implants. They only saw a smear of dark grey before hearing an ork behind them fall to the ground.

After the last greenskin was eliminated, Namior turned and looked around for the Icarus, "Inquisitor..."

The Blood Raven trailed off again for the second time as he watched small nicks and gashes disappear from Artimec's armor, leaving it unblemished. Tarquin blinked as the assault marines formed up again with him and Icarus taking point. The Brother-Captain began to speak cautiously, still apphrehensive at the sight of the self repairing metal,

"Inquisitor... Is your armor made from-"

Icarus interrupted, "Necrodermis? Yes, it is"

Artimec could feel the eyes on him as he finished his sentence.

Another Blood Raven assault marine spoke, "Then why is your armor reminiscent of the Grey-"

Another ambush of stormboyz cut off the Astartes, a melee quickly broke out again; chainsword and power weapon versus slugga and choppa. Icarus and Namior quickly leapt into the midst; it would take a while before they reached the centre of the fortress.

-----

Kaira moved through the ork outpost quickly, hearing the sounds of battle becoming louder and louder. She paid no heed to the bustling greenskins as they ran around priming explosives, carrying ammunition and building gun batteries.

She stalked through the rooms, camouflage still active and making no sound as she sprinted. The xenos were oblivious to her presence as she made progress to their leader. The Vindicare passed by a room full of looted power weapons. She was tempted to take one to incorporate the field generator into her weapon.

The Assassin thought about it for a moment before snatching a power sword from the pile. As she locked it to her belt, the stealth field covered the weapon and became invisible. She would need to find an artificer skilled enough to modify her unique katana without damaging it.

Filing away the thought to the back of her mind for now, Kaira was one room away from the command centre of the fortress. She could hear some shouting, followed by a roar. Then came something crashing against the wall, and then there was a splatting noise.

The Vindicare crept into the final room and saw several primitive monitors were strewn about the makeshift tables. 'Big Nob Hammahgitz' was in the process of gently tapping a computer; or as gentle as an ork could be, he was actually slamming it. But for a eight foot tall ork that could crush a human with one hand, it was fairly gentle.

"Come on ya zoggin machine!" He pounded the monitor some more, "Stupid meks, I ought ta tear da gitz into oblivion..."

Kaira toyed with the idea of executing him from afar with an Exitus rifle, but that was boring. Instead she uncloaked at the entrance to the room, she cleared her throat to get the greenskin's attention. The xenos blinked several, unbelieving that a human managed to sneak past his defences. But then again, you could only trust one as far as you could throw them. Which might have been a bad example in this case. Hammahgitz's face turned into a snarl and roared,

"OI! IT'S A 'UMIE! GET 'ER!"

Orks rushed from all four entrances and charged at the Vindicare. Kaira calmly drew her katana, swinging it around few times to make sure her grip was correct. When she moved, it was neither fast nor slow; but each slash, every twist of her body had a purpose. The Vindicare flowed like water, never pausing between strikes. If a Harlequin was watching, it would be jealous.

The orks were reduced into halves and Hammahgitz was the only greenskin alive in the room. He still retained the snarl as he charged, brandishing a power klaw. Kaira took up a slight grin underneath her spy mask as she too ran at the xenos. The nob swiped at the Vindicare's head, she slid under it and easily sliced the ork's hand off, along with his klaw. Hammahgitz roared in pain, turning around with his good arm and attempted to punch the Assassin.

She easily caught the fist and twisted it around, snapping the bone. The ork cried out in pain before trying to body slam Kaira, who was still lying down on the floor. She agilely rolled out of the way and jumped to her feet, her katana still drawn. Hammahgitz stood up after a few tries, finally succeeding when he used his mangled arms to support his considerable bulk. The dumb greenskin ran at her again. This time, Kaira didn't fool around.

The Vindicare twirled and brought her blade down diagonally, her body following the sword. It effortlessly passed through the ork, slashing from right shoulder to left hip. The two halves flew by her on either side, like how a wave separates against a stone. They hit the ground a moment later, their momentum had been quickly depleted.

She heard movement from one of the entrances, followed by a metallic male voice. Kaira grinned as she walked to the two halves of the nob, dusting his armor, she sat down on it and looked expectantly at the door.

They were in for a surprise...

-----

After six more stormboy ambushes, and one with bomb squigs, the assault marines were finally nearing their destination. As the Astartes entered the room before the command centre, they found it barren.

Namior made a signal to halt, the Blood Raven cautiously scouted the room, wary of any traps. Finding none he nodded, the space marines proceeded. They could hear a roar, followed by another, and then a loud splat. Icarus and Tarquin looked at each other for a spilt second before the Brother-Captain shouted,

"Forward!"

The assault marines rushed into the final room and was met with a peculiar sight. The Vindicare Assassin Kaira was sitting on what was presumably their target. She happily waved to the crimson Astartes as they neared the halves of the nob.

"Inquisitor, Captain; Defence coordinator has been eliminated."

The space marines stared at her for a moment before Icarus spoke,

"Well done Assassin, we are going to sweep the other rooms."

Kaira nodded, "Third room down from the south entrance is full of looted power weapons. They seemed to have booby trapped the rooms near the south entrance if not more.

"Sidonus, Leandros, take a third of the assault marines and secure the immediate area, the Inquisitor and I will lead a group and recover the weapons. Watch for traps and move cautiously."

A series of affirmatives answered him and they split up into the gates.

The Vindicare uncloaked the power sword at her waist and examined it: The blade's shape was slightly curved, the tip of the sword flared outwards before meeting at a very sharp tip. The guard was shaped as an Imperial Aquila, the pommel had the insignia of a lion.

Yep, Dark Angels. They always did love swords...

Hehe, I'm sure they won't miss one...

Her camouflage activated again and she crept her way towards the Imperial Forces.

-----

The news that the 'Big boss had been killed' spread like wildfire amongst the orks. They soon turned their attention from holding back the Imperials to blasting at each other, hoping to become the biggest greenskin alive. The guardsmen and space marines surged forth and swept the xenos from their stronghold, finding that the guns and cannons holding them back had stopped aiming at them.

The purge was short but bloody, the warning from Kaira proved invaluable as they found enough explosives to level the entire fortress. No easy feat when the entire construct spanned a kilometre. It had been the only strongpoint of resistance in the surrounding ten miles of Iliad.

The spear had pierced the skin of the ork war machine, now it was only a matter of time before it reached the heart.