There is no time for peace. No respite. No forgiveness.
There is only WAR.
In the nightmare future of the 41st Millennium, Mankind teeters upon the brink of destruction. The galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man is beset on all sides by ravening aliens and threatened from within by Warp-spawned entities and heretical plots. Only the strength of the immortal Emperor of Terra stands between humanity and its annihilation, and in his name, countless warriors and agents do battle against the encroaching darkness. Foremost amongst them stand the Space Marines, the ultimate protectors of Mankind.
Across airless moons, within the depths of dark, twisted hive worlds and even in the immaterial realm of Warp space, battles rage that will shape the future of the galaxy forever.
A Space marine is a towering warrior, whose brute strength is tempered by inhuman skill. Armed with a fearsome bolter, protected by a suit of power armour and the product of intense training and genetic manipulation, he is far beyond a mortal man, transformed into a lethal superhuman killing machine. The Space Marines are organised into Chapters, each a self-sufficient army and the most deadly group of warriors in the Imperium's arsenal. The Dark Angels are one of these Chapters, the very first to be founded at the dawn of the age of the Imperium. Once teetering on the very brink of heresy, they hide a dark and terrible secret. A secret that drives the Dark Angels to search through space and time to hunt for their once brethren, now turned their mortal enemies and a vow to hunt them for their Primarch's revenge drives them ever forward.
The Imperial Guard comprises countless billions of soldiers drawn from a million worlds who stand against the innumerable threats that would see the Imperium of Man torn asunder. Serried ranks of soldiers and columns of steel-clad tanks face monstrous savages and inhuman horrors. The Imperial Guard forms the very backbone of the Imperium, without which Mankind would surely fall prey to the predations of aliens, heretics and worse.
Out of the fires of war, the Dark Angel Space Marines and an Imperial Guard regiment have formed an alliance in blood to hunt and kill these traitors once and for all. With the Hardened Veterans knowledge of warfare in impossible conditions and the Dark Angels will and unmatched fury in battle, they can conquer any foe.
These are the Tale of Courage, Honour, of Duty and deliverance of Justice and one of Sacrifice for a cause greater than themselves.
This is the tale of War.
This is a tale of the Tenebris Ultores.
Colonel Puller looked over to his small band of raggedy arsed Guardsmen, the K/11 Marine Corps of Pacifius Prime. Anxiety lined their pale, ashen faces and the sense of the jitters ran through them. This was their first deployment in the name of the Emperor on Molov and all they’ve had so far was a few fire-fights against rebelling guardsmen which ended quickly and then the brutal training of the original planet which the Colonel remembered very well.
He wiped a grimy hand on his ash-covered face and replaced the cap that was crooked on his shaven skull. A slight breeze swam through, blowing his camo-cloak slightly.
“Marines of Guadalcanal, the time to take the fight to enemy has come. Finally those damned Inquisition have come in use. Finally we have found and tracked those damned Fallen to their hideout and now we have found a way to kill them. Those hulking giants of the Dark Angels have made themselves aware and only by my… Persuasion, have you little girls become soldiers of the Imperium, battling in his Holy Name! Remember as much as I value every last one of you, I have a duty and oath to the Emperor to employ courage and those who do not wish to fulfil this role will be executed ruthlessly by me, and I will not hesitate. Do you understand?!” The Colonel roared, with a glint of menace in his eyes. He saw with satisfaction his men have a look of horror, but quickly shouted “Yes sir, Lord Commissar-Colonel Puller!”
“Good we have an understanding, because with the Inquisitor on my arse, I have to be extra careful. Now gear up and get prepared!” He bellowed.
Librarian Avid glared at the Lord Colonel-Commissar Puller with a gaze so horrifying it had to be from a Daemon. But the Colonel didn’t shift, and neither did he shake a little. Nerves of steel that won’t budge easily, the Librarian was impressed.
“I guess you’ll do.” He spat out and the Colonel thought that was the nicest thing he had ever said in his entire life. The dour Librarian straightened up; rising to his eight foot tall figure and the Colonel secretly shook his head. He had all the power and his figure rivalled that of even the greatest guardsmen who lived. But when he was around these hulking beasts, he had an envy that he couldn’t describe. He was used to being the top dog, but knowing that these Angels of Death could easily squash him like he was a Gretchen was disarming.
“So how many of those puny humans have you got at your disposal Commander?” The Librarian gruffly hollered under his iron halo.
“For your information Commander, these aren’t ordinary men, just for throwing into the meat grinder, these are some of the finest scouts and recon units available and they rival those of even your men, a few of my men saw your darkest day and fought side-by-side with them. So don’t disregard them as common low-lives, for they aren’t, their mighty warriors!” The Colonel roared in defiance. The Librarian stayed immovable, like a statue made of steel, but he saw it in the giant’s eyes his outburst had thrown him back.
The two commanders stood in silence but like usual the damned Librarian broke it roughly. “My force is a Centurion strong, with Heavy Weapons included. I just got the report of a thousand of your soldiers to apparently deal with the enemy.”
“Gonna be ‘un ‘ell of a battle!” The Colonel piped up, his anger gone.
“Get your men ready Lord Commissar before I change my mind and let the Inquisition of our little talk.” He spat out.
“Now we agree on something.” The Colonel took his leave.
Game 1:
Librarian Avid looked at his data-slate with his piercing eyes. He had been tipped off that this was the main route of the Fallen’s route back to their head-quarters. They couldn’t assault the quarters of the main-base as the entire fortress was in the main city hive and was impossible to find and get into, and even harder to stay alive that long. A wide-spread panic won’t have been the best option and they would’ve been beaten before they started if that happened. So they found from their tip that this was the only way to defeat the commander of the force, Fallen Brother Vastus, who was just a normal Marine back then but now leads a small band that was turned to Slaanesh during the break-outs of the fighting. This was their last chance to put an end to in-fighting of Sector Bakst. “Marines, with steel and courage, we shall burn this heretic!” He gruffly bellowed and his men roared in response. He looked over in disgust to the other so called ‘Marines’ which were just meat for the slaughter-house.
“Marbo, are you ready at your end?” The Colonel Voxed through to their one trump card.
“Yes Colonel-Commissar.” Muttered the vox-caster in response.
“Okay men, it’s time to deploy. We have been ordered to find cover as soon as possible in order to ambush them. Our friends will be deployed alongside us, in the middle, so we can flank them and crush them. Our ‘Commander’ Avid and his Devastators are deployed in the ruins to the west of us, holding a vital objective of the ruined Adminitrium building. We need to hold them men, who are we?”
“Mortems best!” The soldiers bellowed rowdily.
“Marbo reporting sir. The enemy has light vehicles in the form of the Ravenwing deployed to the east, racing fast towards the men. The enemies Tactical Squad has been deployed in heavy cover to the middle of the field of battle.”
“This is going to be hard…”
“Colonel, the enemy Tactical Squad is in range sir.” The sniper, Corporal Cyst confirmed and the Colonel nodded.
“Captain, the enemy is in range.”
“Understood Colonel-Commissar, but the Devastators can find them and are tracking them, we are going to open-fire sir.”
“Understood.”
Captain Avid glanced across his men and gave the order. “Fire at will men, short bursts and conserves ammunition.” He gruffly spat and the Marines nodded and took aim. Bolter fire opened up and screamed, the missile launchers opening up, silently blowing away at the landscape. Four of the enemy fell to the rapid fire, their armour no match for the wrath of the Emperor. “They betrayed us and the legion and they will fall!” He hollered.
A beacon suddenly blew off from the ashen soil and bleeped in the middle of the battle-field. “What is that sir?” Asked Sergeant Cast into the vox-caster.
“I sense a disturbance in the warp-field Sergeant, keep your bolters ready.” The vox screeched in his ear.
The beacon suddenly stopped and a sandstorm replaced the bleeping object and everyone shielded their eyes. Sniper Cyst shielded his eyes and looked through the scope, his eye shielded greatly. Through the mass of ash and sand, hulking figures in bone white armour stood, ten feet tall with signs of the warp already diseasing their ancient and holy armour.
“Terminators!” Shouted Cyst over the mayhem. The Colonel glanced over at him, and then adjusted his caps. “Well this is a surprise.” The Colonel gruffly chuckled.
They heard the rev of an engine and Cyst swung his rifle around to bore into the bikers of the enemy, their horns barring like monstrous teeth. “The Ravenwing are moving towards us sir!” He gulped and the Commissar nodded grudgingly.
Then the hulking figures turned their attention on the Veterans and Cyst knew what was coming. He took cover and the Storm Bolters roared. Trooper Jihads was instantly turned into a bloody pulp. The Veterans quickly ducked, but not enough. Trooper Uest’s head blew into a bloody firework and the bullet went through to hit Sergeant Held straight through his eye socket. Auto-cannon fire hissed and Trooper Bide was impaled in the chest and another round smashed Trooper Skids stomach.
“Open fire at the Deathwing men!” The Colonel shouted and they nodded with awe.
The las-guns opened up and the screams of the firing las bolts hit and bounced off the armour of the Deathwing.
“Relax, Relax…” Cyst slowed his breathing and steadied his sniper. “Die you mother f…” He fired and it hit its mark. There was a chink in the armour right where the back of the neck was, the vertebrae.
He fired his suppressed las-rifle and it hit its mark. The Deathwing traitor fell down instantly, dead.
“Marbo, its time, those plasma weapons won’t remain dormant for long!” The Colonel shouted as Trooper Skids finally succumbed to his wound, spasmed violently and then died. Trooper Judd cried out and kept on trying to revive him.
“He can’t be dead, he can’t be dead! No this is a dream, this is a dream!” HE was bordering insanity. Anymore symptoms and the Colonel might have to execute him.
“Sir Marbo is coming out!” The sniper yelled and Puller nodded.
Then a huge explosion shook the battle-field and the sniper confirmed it.
“Incredible! How did Marbo kill four of those traitors with a demolition charge?!” The sniper gasped as he looked through his scope to confirm his previous alienation.
“We’ve got more important matters to attend to than Marbo. We have to kill those damned bikers, their threatening our flank. Open fire at them men!” The remaining troopers nodded under fire and found the bikers revving down the flank. Las fire opened up and cracked through them and Trooper Gust got the kill, a lucky penetrating hit on the leading biker through the eye-piece. The biker tumbled off his blasted steed lifeless, discarded to the ash wastes. The bike tumbled down and erupted in white flames, the other bikers narrowly missing it.
The camo-cloaks had worked so far, the ash covering Sergeant Cast’s men and their bolter-fire which so far hadn’t done anything. But the sand-storm whipped up by the Deathwing traitors had ripped their capes wide open and now they were just eight foot tall soldiers dressed in green. “This ain’t gonna be good…” Sergeant Cast got into a kneeling position, looking at the clouds.
“Storms coming in sir, we’re going to be rendered blind and against this kind of opposition, we minus well be civilians for all the good it’s going to do to us!” He informed the Librarian.
“Keep pressing sergeant, don’t back down!” The Librarian hollered in that rough voice. Man that guy annoys me, thought Cast.
The terminators suddenly barrelled forward and Cast gulped.
“Sir, we can’t hold our own against these traitors, we need to get to higher ground!” Brother Husk pleaded.
“No, the Emperor protects and we need to stand our ground!” Cast muttered softly.
Suddenly storm bolter fire erupted from the Deathwing and they all took cover. Brother Gelds was ripped apart from the metal shells. Brother Knish went down hissing as a bullet blew his right leg from the rest of his body and then another shell ripped through his skull, splattering his brains all over the grey ground.
The blood of the Astartes was spilled all over the grey ground, the precious gene-seed leaking with it.
Colonel Puller glanced over the lip of the crater to see the once invisible Tactical Squad of the Caliban’s Chosen get ripped apart by steady Storm Bolter fire from the traitorous Terminators.
He huffed and let himself fall down the meteor. “Men, the Astartes have been found.” He grimly declared and he felt the spirits fall of every man in this crater. Puller heard a charging of plasma and swore.
“Get down…!” He uttered as he jumped over the lip of the crater and fired round after round of his Bolt Pistol. The Plasma Gun of the traitors on the bikes hollered and spat out a concentrated beam that was impossible to look at. The Colonel fell down, searing pain ripping through his chest. He looked down to see his skin cooking as he collapsed into a heap.
Then the Bikes roared into action and Corporal Cyst stared in horror. “Damn. Men rally around me, here they come!” He shouted as the Ravenwing flew off the mini-ramp made on the outside of the crater. Trooper Judd screamed like a madman and fired on automatic in the air, catching the wheel of the Plasma Gun biker and blowing it off.
The bikes landed and the traitorous Marine was thrown off over the handlebars and towards the Guardsmen and landed in their midst.
Corporal Amos grabbed out his machete, gifted to us by our commanders, and executed the Marine.
The Corporal turned back to see the enemy Sergeant jump off his bike and with chainsword in hand, charged.
Sergeant Cast glared in horror as the enemy Deathwing roared and stomped enragingly towards them. “Fire, Fire, FIRE!” He screamed and fired shell after shell into those blasted creatures, as did his retinue with fear for the Chaos beings. The Terminators stopped charging and went into cover, their shoulder-pads stopping all the bullets that they were firing.
Marbo looked on as he hid in cover as the Librarian suddenly appeared almost twenty meters away, being part of the Tactical Squad in the First Place. He gulped, but in his experience, he knew what was going to happen.
The Librarian roared, his horns gleaming with blood and the once holy sword now plagued with the blood of the innocent, was shining like it was finding its first kill.
He pulled out his pistol and fired round after round into the eight foot tall monsterity, but it just came at him with fury match to the Warboss he killed with his bare hands back a long time ago. But he wasn’t scared, he wasn’t afraid, he rolled his neck and pulled out his venom blade with his steel grip leaped towards the Librarian. The Librarian swung high with his two handed sword and it was blocked easily by the blade of Marbo. They danced and parried, but he could see that the Librarian didn’t match the skill of him, and the armour and the two handed sword weighed him down, his moves becoming slower and clumsier. Just a matter of time…
The Sergeant was in a state of fury as he cut the head off Corporal Amos, blood spraying like a fountain over the crater and the Sergeant. “No you don’t!” Trooper Judd ran forward and swung his Machete at the biker, who blocked it and it became a contest, with the rest of the squad slowly pushing in, but he kept all of them at bay with the alive chainsword.
The Librarian was getting frustrated fast. All of this planning was for nothing. The enemy was smashing them in combat and afar they were pulping them. He was losing all of his focus and that storm was brewing fast, causing him headaches just trying to keep the magical energy out of his head.
Marbo parried a Chainsword swing that would’ve decapitated him and flung himself around the back of the Librarian. He got behind and with his knife he severed the iron hood that was protecting the Librarians skull.
The Librarian swung around with a chainsword swing and Marbo easily ducked under it. He got in the Librarians face.
“Chaos will fall.” He muttered and he plunged his venom blade into the Librarians skull. The Librarian slumped and Marbo kicked him back, twisting and retracting his blade from the corpse of the once mighty and loyal Marine.
The Sergeant was under pressure and the Corporal could see that. They exchanged blows with each other, neither one getting the upper hand.
But those Deathwing could strike at any moment and they had to be ready…
Marbo stood up from the corpse and glanced to see plasma cannon aimed on him.
“Oh mother of-.” His swearing was cut off by the entire building imploding and shattering with him in it.
“Sir, Marbo is dead.” Grimly informed Sergeant Holed clearly depressed.
“I can see that Sergeant.” Spat an extremely pissed Librarian.
The Deathwing got up again. “Fire all your damned weapons!” Cast shouted. Marine’s stopped in mid-reload and looked up in horror at the sight of the hulking 10 foot tall men barrelled towards them, picking up momentum. Some Marines punched in a fresh new clip into their Bolters and fired, and some took out their Chainswords grimly and awaited death.
“Men, we will die standing with honour to defeat the Heretic, in his name!” Sergeant Cast hollered as Storm Bolter fire erupted.
Trooper Fist looked on grimly as he saw the blood of the Brothers spilled and the last dying moments of his Great-uncle, Sergeant Cast as he got punched open by a power fist. The fight was short and bloody, not one Deathwing wounded for all the Tactical Squad to get beaten to a pulp.
He huffed saddened and fell down the crater to see them still locked in combat. “Our last squad was ripped apart and they’ve turned to face us now.” He grimly muttered to the Corporal.
Trooper Judd tripped over and the Chaos scum swung and decapitated the unlucky Trooper, blood spraying like a fountain.
“Let’s kill this b*****d!” Corporal Cyst bellowed and his men surged forwards.
The Librarian was pissed. They all could see it in his eyes. “Provide cover, I’m going to kill these damned men!” He yelled and they nodded.
They opened fire from the ruined building into the enemies Tactical Squad and the ash blew all around, creating a shroud of white that suited the sky very well. “Brother Blest, scan the ruins for any sign of the traitor.” Ordered the Sergeant and Blest nodded then turned his head slowly from left to right.
“No sign of life sir!” He reported.
Librarian Avid clambered up the ruins and got on top just in time to see the Deathwing turn their attention to the last of the Guardsmen.
“That’s it!” He uttered and starting speaking the tongue of the warp, summoning his magic, but none would come. He tried again, but nothing happened. Then he knew. “DAMNED STORM!” He cried out.
Librarian Avid ducked behind the ruins as auto-cannon fire smashed into the wall above him and Storm Bolter fire smashed into the ground around him as he coward behind a chunk of metal. A bolter round hit the metal and found a chink in his armour. Searing pain sawed through him and he doubled over in agony.
He got out his emergency medical kit and got the bullet out with a grunt and sewed the wound shut in time to see the Deathwing charge in. The Guardsmen held firm though surrounded on all sides and despite the pain he was impressed in those mere mortals’ morale and courage, even as two more were pulped by those damned Power fists.
Corporal Cyst blocked a swing from the Ravenwing traitor Sergeant with his barrel and pressed forward with his small knife. He got in under the guard of the Sergeant and swung, but was off balance and hit the neck protector of the traitor. The Sergeant just grinned evilly and Cyst felt cold metal against his lower chest. He stumbled back, the noise of battle and the screams of the dying all around him not registering. He fell to his knees but felt nothing but peace.
And collapsed.
Librarian Avid saw those final few Guardsmen got smashed to bits and he grimly spat out blood.
“Sir you have to go, us two will… Buy you some time, but you’ve got to get out of HERE…!” The vox-line was cut short. But he understood.
“Devastators, this battle is lost but the war hasn’t. We have to retreat and then after we can tend to the wounded on this field. Librarian out.” He muttered into his vox link.
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