In Defense of Racadia

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Incoming Transmission: Homeworld of the Silver Archangels under attack from the traitorous space marines from the chapter of Death Guard. Reasons are unknown why the Death Guard are here but are currently being investigated. The Archangels are sending a distress signal to anyone who could hear it, currently they are inside their fortress and preparing to launch a counter attack against the enemy. Orbital Bombardments have been used against the planet and their defenders for the past 24 hours. Half the Company is in fighting condition and it is apparent that though they may hold out for a long time, they will evantually fall to the enemy. Requesting help from surrounding chapters or imperial guard regiments.

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Landor looked down at the transmission once again to make sure what he was reading was true. The traitorous marines who had turned their back on the Emperor for their own selfish purposes. Landor was a strong built man even for a space marine, with black hair and a major amount of tactical experience. For this reason he was assigned the 4th company of the Knights of Hanar, a chapter specifically designed in siege warfare and defense. Some compared their skill to that of the Iron Warriors and on more than one occasion the Knights of Hanar and the Iron Warriors have met and neither has prevailed. Landor knew Invictus would need his defensive expertise to hold out until reinforcements had arrived to support them in driving back the great enemy. As Landor boarded the Thunderhawk he gazed around him, checking each and every one of his mens readiness and willingness to fight for the Emperor no matter the cost. The Thunderhawks engines roared to life as the Thunderhawk was released from its clamp inside the Battle Barge and sped towards the planet of Racadia. The fleet had already broken through the chaos fleet but the defenders of Racadia were far from safe. He walked up to the cockpit and gazed around in front of the Thunderhawk to note, to his satisfaction that each of the Thunderhawks had fallen into place into the designated formation that they had set up and if needed each knew the rendezvous point. He had calculated the size of the planet and where each force was located and which routes the enemy would have to take to get to the Archangels. There were 2 paths that lead directly from the Bulwark of the Angels, the Archangels fortress, and the enemy encampment. These two routes were blown out of the rocks and were clearly man made. The Death Guard had not even taken the time to clear out the debris in the valleys and for that folly they would pay.

Invictus gazed upon the cold-dead night sky thanking the Emperor that the bombardment had stopped and that he could stand atop the tower without the fear of being bombarded. The slow night sky was interrupted by the flying of the Thunderhawks below him, he could make out the iconography of the Thunderhawks and was pleased that the defensive experts had come to help him and his brethren in defense of their homeworld. He called into his vox to the corridors and servitors below him to prepare for the incoming Thunderhawks and to make preparations for his war room and how they would go about ridding the traitorous filth that plagued their planet.

=== Chapter 2: In Defense of Racadia Part 2 ===

In Defense of Racadia Part 2

Sergeant Orain gazed around him in the lower corridors and smiled to himself. 'Soon everything will be in place and the master will be happy' Orain thought to himself, 'Soon enough the Archangels will be at the knees of his newfound master and they shall not be spared'. As the clambering of a Space Marine was heard moving down the stairs he pushed those thoughts into the back of his mind, Banaka looked at his old friend and noticed something different, the hatred in his eyes, Banaka thought that hatred was directed at the traitorous filth on their planet. As he told Orain that the time for war as at hand the two old friends moved up the stair back to the main levels of the fortress and gathered their gear for the upcoming battle. As Orain left his seat in the lower corridors he had placed a bomb hidden very well from his battle brother, this bomb would be the basis for taking over the Archangels and bringing upon their doom.

Invictus looked around his war room, to his fellow brothers in arms and addressed the situation at hand. "Brothers, today the enemies plague our planet, our place of birth, our lives. And are we going to let those traitorous bastards take that away from us? I think not brothers, I think not." As Invictus spread out the map of the area before him all the officers stood to get a better view of the map, and to take note of strategic values and importance. "We will need to keep these two points under our control no matter what" Landor said pointing to the two paths he had viewed earlier. "If we lose these two strategic assets we will lose an uphill advantage and we will also more than likely lose the Bulwark.

Men lined the cliffs of the valley even as the tide of disease and puke green marines advanced towards the Bulwark, on his mark Banaka would order his men to unleash a torrent of bolter fire on the great enemy, he would be jumping down upon the traitors with his command squad and would face off against their leader and attempt to sever the enemies reconnaissance at its head. The Death Guard moved more and more up the valley, 'Just a little more you bastards, then you will meet a swift and merciful death' Banaka thought to himself. As he prepared to jump he glanced over at his company champion Kantor and nodded, and in return Kantor nodded back. Kantor was his closest friend and only second to him was Orain, "It is time to strike at the heart of those mutants and end these constant attacks eh?" Banaka said to his command squad through the com. Although none of warriors replied back he knew they all were grinning inside their helmets. "FOR SANGUINIUS!" he roared as he dropped upon the enemy, his words were echoed throughout his strike team and bolter fire erupted around him. A Death Guard that had his bolter leveled at him had almost pulled the trigger but Kantor snapped off two shots from his bolt pistol and ended its life. A thump was heard next to Banaka and as he looked to his left he saw one of his brothers had been shot of the ridge and had fell. But his death had not been in vain as he had landed on top of one of the Death Guard enabling Banaka to plunge his sword deep in the mutants neck. He charged for the closest enemy and easily cut him down before turning to face the leader of the enemy strike team. Voldus was his name Banaka had been briefed on his tactics when he was in the war room with Invictus and he knew this would not be an easy fight. He saw the rest of his brothers fighting hard as they had jumped upon the enemy and it seemed as if they were winning. But not everything can be taken to what it seems. Voldus was a Sorcerer strong in the ways of Nurgle and he knew that if his men and him stayed down there too long the disease might affect them too much.

As Banaka raised his power sword to bring down upon the sorcerer, Voldus blocked with his staff and while they were struggling for each others weapons, tendrils had shot out of Voldus impaling Banaka. It would take more than a few holes in his body to take Banaka down, as he swung with his power sword again he had caused more damage than his previous attack, causing Voldus's arm to fall to the ground still with life. While still fighting each other neither inflicting more damage than what they had previously caused, the men were still fighting them. Voldus brought up his staff in an upward swing and as Banaka tried to bring up his power sword his arm would not move, even though he tried with all his power to bring up his sword it would not move. That was Banaka's last thought as he was cut in two by Voldus's staff, and Kantor was there to witness it all. Kantor called to the standard bearer Jurvis to throw him the standard. As Kantor caught the standard he sprinted over to Voldus and plunged the standard through the mutants chest. Through one heart and Kantor brought his power sword into his second one. After seeing their leader dieing the Death Guard fell back to the main strike camp and Kantor pulled his men out. As the company champion Kantor would take control over the company until a new Captain was assigned. Jurvis would be the new company champion for the time being and Ferlin would be the new standard bearer.