<Megabash> @Lord_Zial_Ghoul Massive worm gribblies? Orbital bombardment? Sure one had practically floored half the lesser combatants on the field, not including Megabash or his pair of tag along Bashers, while the other had liquified parts of both force from the sheer heat of proximity to the cataclysmic fire power being poured into the area but Megabash wasn't dead, there were however plenty of staggered and dazed opponents who would be though. Flames died out around him as the scorcha ran out of fuel, Right quickly slipping down his left arm to begin the laborious task of getting his armored fuel compartment open to fit in another fat thing of squig oil and promethium. Left meanwhile was busily scurrying about on the ground, stealing grenades from the dead and prepping them for use as his master's next shot. In the meantime everything else just sort of died in front of the Mega Nob. An Astartes who had just disemboweled a Snake Bite nob and his well fed fat attack squig died first with power axe coming around to hack him in two from armpit out through neck. A power blade wielding heretic danced in toward Megabash, admirable agility allowing him to slash into his extended right arm but failing to sever the limb. A single elbow bash floored his opponent before a fully armored mega nob the size of a warboss stepped over and onto him, ceramite caving in while corrupt flesh was pulped and bones rendered into a fine mat of grains that clung to gore soaked feet as Megabash carried on. A plume of smoke emerged from behind visored head as back mortar fired and a pair of kraks primed and tied together slammed into a land raider, bouncing down its side and detonating on a sponson, silencing the weapon while leaving its main body relatively unharmed beyond some paint damage and chipped armor. "That fing is pretty dead 'ard...lets go show it wotz 'arder! " Leaning forward once more the mega nob launched into another furious charge, both he and his Bashers clubbing aside anything between them and their target in a single freight train like stampede toward the bastardization of a proper sacred Imperial vehicle. Elsewhere the Orkish forces were still pouring in strong, always numbers to spare where one died eight more stepped up with another dozen waiting in the ranks behind them and plenty willing to make a carpet of their own corpses to reach whomever still drew breath and needed a good krumping. By now a number of plenty bothersome flamer specialist and heavy weapons teams were identified and where fortified big guns were chewing up the line mobs of burna boyz were starting to congregate to flood their cover and force frail human bodies into blazing marionettes performing the ever beloved 'burny dance'. Those teams of enemies looking to scour away xenos filth weren't particularly popular targets for the main charge, runtier boyz not looking to get cooked unwilling to charge straight in while the Nobs were too busy trying to chop their way up to their Warlord and join him wherever the fighting was thickest. This was all good and fine for the Storm Boyz though as mobs of the rokkit propelled murderers gladly hopped from slaughtering ground to slaughtering ground, booted feets or armored heads landing right inside enemy formation to hack apart whatever wished to meet them, even if each jump meant fewer and fewer boyz making it to the air again.
"HAHAHA YOU FILTHY LITTLE MUTTS!" Kragg has switched to his deamon blade and while.it emits a purple ish smog when it slices it freezes parts of the enemy and the blade is so cold it burns just touching it feels like grabbing liquid nitrogen and freezes some enemys completely solid or just the initial cutt and when the bombardment comes down kragg starts to lose his footing and stumbles as fast as he can into a near by trench and kragg just starts droolimg from all the sound coming in he just lays their drooling then he sends a vox to zial "sir i-i-i dont know if your hearing this or near this at all but... it feels like im.being blessed by lord slanesh himself! But sir i dont think we will be able to continue to fight if they take out that portal.....your champion isnt even here yet" @Lord_Zial_Ghoul
The massive orbital bombartment had surprised Galgradak, but not nearly as much as the giant gripply had, he wasent taken abavk by these surprises, he just reveled in how much this here planet had to offer, seemee like an amasing place to fight everything. As he saw just how little Megabashes back mortar did to the landraider in front, a smile spread across his massive gob as he lifted his even larger powerfist, "LES GO GETS IT" he yelled to Megabash and his entourage as he himself atleast would try and charge land raider, it would feel the massive punch of his powerfist. <meanwhile> While indeed the ork horde had been thinned there was indeed a few too many variables now, ork specialist where a bit easier to spot among the ork numbers, mostly becouse in whatever field they where in they did alot more damegde than your average boy. But up on the hilltop, the crytal powered suppa zzappa was still very much in effect, it had powered up for another shot, and as dials danced and sparked, it was this time aimed exclusively st the imperial lines, orks normally dident care about shooting their own, but too many bog boyz where closing on the chaos forces, so the imperials where an easier target to hit with a massive load of lazor. "IMMA FOIRING ME LAZOR" the meck in charge of the suppa zappa yelled as once again a thundercrak sounded as air dispersed to the mighty lazor gun. The bright beam sundering an imperial bunker and all in front of it.
A fresh wave of attackers had impacted the imperial lines from both Orks and Traitors forces extending their battle into the outer perimeter among the assembled guardsmen, despite their infighting the two factions seemed intent on breaking imperial lines despite each other. The guardsmen defending the front line were hard pressed to contain the assault and was only thanks to the stalwart battle hardened Cadian line infantry delivering relentless las and heavy bolter fire onto the invaders that the lines continued to hold. Dalimond snarled as he considered his options, his section of the outer perimeter had remained secure from the onslaught, the enemies of the Imperium appeared to be loath to engage him directly, if he could manage a counter attack from this position he could push back enemy aggression. His plans of a forward advance into the battlefield itself appeared to have not come to be but regardless the new troops and vehicles he had just mobilized were now just arriving onto the field ready for battle. The only course of action now was to purge his lines of any and all Traitor and Xenos filth before continuing to pound the persistent armies into the dirt with the Imperial arsenal, in the meantime his artillery will have to focus fire down that damnable Ork vehicle now pounding his front line using every basilisk in the company. 'Vox operator begin relaying coordinates of the Ork artillery and be quick about it! I want every Emperor damned basilisk on that target before the next minute is up and I want that Xenos machine reduced to molten slag in its own smoldering crater!' Observing the Ork warmachine through his binoculars he barked out the coordinates of the ramshackle construction to the Vox operator practically spitting the words in his anger, when he had finished he thrust the optics back into the Leman Russ interior and stared intently at where the Suppa Zappa still stood. The Vox operator genuinely fearing for his life quickly communicated the position just as the commissar spotted a nearby deserter fleeing from the trenches, barely even looking at the coward Dalimond shot the coward the bolt round impacting though the guardsman's helmet and into the unfortunate's cranium. Just as the dead body of the deserter flopped to the floor the vox operator gestured that the message had been successfully transmitted, mere moments later the roar of basilisks firing in unison rang out across the battlefield and a volley of shots arched over the walls of the inner defenses towards the Suppa Zappa. The Earthshaker rounds impacted on and around the Ork Vehicle sending both dirt and scrap metal high into the air the explosions consuming the crew and engulfing the area around the crude artillery piece. The wreckage of the vehicle still visible through the smoke had visibly caught fire the crude electronics of the vehicle sparking as the flames licked the remains. 'Again, hit it again' Once again the basilisks roared and another salvo of shots arched towards the wreckage, this time the remains of the Orkish vehicle splintered the explosions sending sharp fragments into the surrounding orkish horde, the artillery piece itself now little more than a semi molten pile of metal was now burning fiercely in an ever deepening crater. 'Again, hit it again' Another salvo arched over the inner defenses and this time when the shots hit there was little left but molten slag sitting at the bottom of the crater, the metal had been so pulverized it had mixed with the dirt and become little more than impure unrefined rubbish engulfed in its own flame storm. The smoke billowed up into the open sky where the Suppa Zappa once stood and the flames created by this show of force engulfed the surrounding area. Dalimond's expression did not change, this was just sending a message now the real purge shall begin and both these filthy aliens and the traitors knowing this display of Imperial power shall be driven from the front lines and back to their ramshackle fortresses. He shouted to the crew in the Leman Russ below. 'Move this vehicle, take this squadron and proceed down the lines, we cut down any Xenos and heretics that have the audacity to yet remain!'
<Ead Ztompa> @Banshee @Lord_Zial_Ghoul Krooza Nob was momentarily caught off guard, as he didn't consider even for one moment that he could have missed his target. A moment later, though, he clearly attributed that failure to the meks who worked on his rokkit pak. They clearly didn't improved it to go as fast as he wanted. As the champion avoided the giant bullet made of flesh, Ead Ztompa couldn't stop himself because of the momentum he gained. However, as he was flying, the ork felt that the Razorflail was still pulling, as if something was attached to it. Ead Ztompa, while still mid air, managed to turn back to see what was the weight he was carrying behind. The Eldar, who was taking advantage of the speed created by the greenskin, was about to inflict a deadly blow on the Chaos marine. Ead Ztompa couldn't have let the panzie steal his kill, so he decided to play a dirty trick. The ork pulled the leg enveloped from the Razorflail towards himself, dragging behind the Dark Eldar wielding the weapon and unbalancing her. The unorky git was still en route against the corrupted foe, but, in that way, instead of hitting with the tip of her sharpened blade, she would have impacted with her entire body. While laughing maniacally because aware of having ruined the Eldar's calculated manouver, Ead Ztompa crashed in the middle of a band of fanatic cultist. The ork view those weaklings facing him as an opportunity to take some breath and reorganise, before launching an other assault against the two foes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Skarlug and the other Urrikane Smashas were still harassing the Eldar who were trying to get back to the safety of the shadows from where they emerged. At that point, though, the storm boy started thinking the panzies would have had completely ignored them, despite all the pressure the orks put on them. The greenskin was already imagining Ead Ztompa's boots stomping his face for his failure, when suddenly Skarlug's safety, ironically, arrived as one of his teammates exploding midair. The cause of that fireworks show was a squadron of 5 jetbike riders opening fire with their twin linked shuriken catapults, who finally decided to deal with the threat once and for all. As the rest of the stormboys were looking at Skarlug for further instructions, with a proud smile the ork explained the next move "Now, it's time for a zekkret mannouver dem Evil Sun lads taught me for situashuns like diz, when facin such killa gits: LEG IT!" As he stated that, the orks triggered their rokkit pak's thrusters in the direction where they came from at the beginning of their raid, with the angered riders on the stormboys' tail, seeking out for revenge for the fallen comrades. Somehow, the greenskin rude jump pak technology managed to keep a slight edge on the anti-gravity engines of the Eldar vehicles, but volleys of accelerated microfilaments were already being fired on their backs. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Wut ya got, Zognob?" "Squigs poker, ya grot. Wut'bout ya, Magkop?" "Ah! Double Squigs poker, eat dat! Gimme doze chips!" "Zog it, dat's da fird toime ya beat me, Oi fink you's cheattin...." The two stormboys tasked with preparing the minefield, after finishing their mission, were playing cards to pass some time. Normally orks, in order to kill time, would be killing gits, but in that case the two guys were too worried to abandon their position and being accused of disobeying Ead Ztompa's leadership. Besides, they didn't want to miss the fireworks show which would be triggered by their explosive trap. Suddenly, though, they started hearing some engine noise approaching their location, rokkit pak engine more precisely. The two orks immediately hid among some rocks, preparing to receive any kind of visitor. Not much more time passed, before the surviving Urrikan Smashas reached the place, jetting through the sky like they were being chased by Gork and Mork themselves. The two "Xplosive Experts" tried to greet the teammates, but they were abruptly interrupted by Skarlug "OHI YA GROTS! GET INTO POSISHUN, DEM PANZIES ARE ON OWA WAY!" Zognob and Magkop aknowledged the order immediately, since that stormboy's cibork choppa was the second scariest thing in the squad, after Ead Ztompa's mania for martial discipline. Every other stormboy started searching for a hiding spot as well, only Skarlug standing in the middle of the open field. In a matter of seconds, the Eldar reached the top of the hill where the orks had disappeared, when suddenly they found on their way a lone greenskin apparently welcoming them. The jetbike weaponry was already being aimed to the fleshy obstacle, when Skarlug, with a broad grin, made a gesture for the Eldar to check the ground under their swift vehicles. The leader of the jetbike squadron instinctively obeyed, and with horror realised the mistake they did in pursuing an apparently such easy prey. Rokkits, bombs, mines, even shootas pointing towards the sky had been ditributed all over the ground. After Zognob and Magkop managed quickly to make the detonator work, hell erupted among the Eldar ranks. Massive explosions detonated everywhere, catching immediately two riders and shredding their rides and bodies into pieces. The 3 survivors, instead, were quick enough to react and dogde the following blasts, but shrapnels flying everywhere damaged one of the vehicles enough to make its driver lose control and crash ruinosly on the ground. In a last attempt, the 2 last standing warriors gained altitude to avoid harm. Sadly, though, the stormboys decided to not let the explosions do all the job. Half a dozen of greenskin boarded one jetbike, coming from below, so that his rider was caught completely off guard and easily hacked by the ferocious savages. The Eldar leader, looking desperate at his last soldier being shredded, managed barely to avoid an other assault and swiflty passed through the charging stormboys. After loosing so many brothers, the Eldar decided to rejoin the rest of the force, but while retreating he made a mistake: he looked back to watch the field shattered by the explosions and covered in blood and burning wreckages. A moment later, the thin xenos heard a roaring sound approaching from the front, announcing his demise. With a swift move, Skarlug took advantage of the distracted Eldar and decapitated him with his cibork choppa. With its lifeless driver, the vehicle kept going forward for a while because of the inertia, before crashing against a boulder. The Urrikane Smashas took a moment to admire their work, while on the distance savage fights among different races were still going on. Finally, Skarlug stared at the last standing orks of the squad, before cheering for the victory "OY LADS! DIS WAS DA BEZTEZT FISHING PARTY EVVA!"
OOC: don't know, first time PvPing... Anyway, I just said what I was planning to do with my actions, you try to counter that. P.S. Thanks for the jetbikes, ya Panzie, EH EH AH!
[In the battle field] @Banshee @KroozaNob Xavius had been prepared for the Eldar's crafty attack and now bringing his blades up to his body the Astares could effectively parry whilst strafing his opponent to get a significantly better angle to deal the final blow. But the Eldar suddenly hurtled towards him, surprising the assassin as the combatant came impacting with his body, sending him momentarily sprawling as she herself regained composition surprisingly quickly. Xavius: "Damn Eldar Wych. I'll gut you for that." Jumping back up from the ground, Xavius threw himself at his Eldar opponent, his blades poised to deal a decapitating blow to his opponent. ~~~~ [At Fordan] At the base of the fortress Zial stood watching the events unfold through the massive portal in front of him. The occasional beam from the heavens ripping across the ground near the rift, causing some of his assembled entourage to reel at the sheer blinding force of the attack. Black Legion Astartes: "My lord. The portal is collapsing! We should Call for a retreat." Brass Warrior: "Our Master knows what he is doing! He sent only cannon fodder in. right now the damage they are causing will cause the Imperials irreparable damage. Every loss only strengthens our power here, and diminishes those impudent bastards." Erial; {You imbeciles. You know nothing of what we are trying to accomplish here. This is not the battle to eradicate the Imperials. No. This is simply a test of their strength, with every death they will be forced to unleash more of their pathetic army into the battle field, and from there we can obliterate them with the swipe of our hand. Master, I must inform you that Leoroth is getting restless. We do not believe we can constrain him much longer. We must unleash him on the battlefield!} Zial: "What if he falls in battle?" Erial: {We are well prepared for that scenario to say the least. His death will cause lingering damage where ever he falls, for acidic blood courses through his veins. His death will not bode well for any side that he finds himself near} Zial: "Good. Unleash him then" With the command given Warpsmith Erial turned to his subordinates, who harmoniously began the sequence to unlock the chains of the Empowered Knight, the massive daemonic mixture of machine and flesh quickly rising from where it had been standing. It turned it's gaze towards the Portal, and then the one he came to recognize as his master. Zial: "Go now Leoroth. You have been granted the power you deserved. Go now and unleash it on our enemies" Pointing at the the Gateway with his clawed hand, the Chaos Lord stood as the monstrous knight crashed it's feet into the ground, sinew and servos straining as the Knight charged through the portal. ~~~~~~ [On the battle field] In the Chaos of battle, the heretical forces that had remained in the battle ground, whether through fear or sheer lust for combat, rallied around the one champion who had seemed unkillable. Setk, a surprisingly tall and muscular man, was leading the charge, a massive power axe in his hand, followed by the ogryn body guard known as Ned and the Noise marine Kragger. Their force had cut a relatively deep swathe within the enemy lines, even under the pressure of machine gun fire and artillery bombardments this small chaos force managed to hold out near the foreground towards the trenches, establishing a significant strong point in which to rally the Traitor forces remaining. Elsewhere in the Imperial Bastion Amriel had infiltrated the heart of the stronghold, happening upon a large courtyard in which three basilisk batteries had been steadily firing into the heart of the Assault. Pulling from his cloak a bomb as large as his skull the Chaos astartes slipped from the shadows, slicing the nearest guards in half as he ran towards the three tanks. Cutting down the operators of the first tank Amriel hurled the bomb onto the small deck suspended behind the main cannon of the middle vehicle, subsequently dodging las fire as he leaped to the second and third one, silencing their crews in but a few second, and then dashing up the stairs of the courtyard's walls and disappearing over it as a giant roar of fire rose up from the artillery station. At the Portal, Lord Azakael was on the last verge of his strength, he and two other sorcerers had the duty of holding the portal open, as the bombardment from the vessels suspended above the planet had not ceased in their function. The Portal had greatly reduced in size, and molten slag was falling in rivers from the rocks suspended in the air above him, the greater top of the mountain having been demolished by the orbital bombardment. Yet through the portal Azakael could see a hulking monstrosity. The Giant machine pushed through the gate, and then he saw the massive knight known by most as Leoroth. The titanic machine, let out a giant.. staticy roar as it glared at the battle field, the hulking beast surrounded by a faint field of purple that crackled with barely constrained energy. The Daemon's fists cleanched and uncleanched slowly, as the battle shortly stopped as all eyes seemed to gaze at the machine. Then, as soon as it arrived the machine went into a slightly huddled stance, a scream carrying one word "Death" emitting from the beast as it's legs tensed down and it's back arched, and then the giant machine hurtled forward, it's speed surprising for a creature that big. It's massive legs carried it to the battle ground in short succession, yet it barreled straight past the Eldar and Orks, it's eyes set on one thing, the Imperial bastion directly in front of it. Leoroth did however provoke an immediate response, as las cannons, bolters and basilisk rained down hell on the machine, yet the purple aura around the front of the Knight only cracked and flared at the attacks. Now nearing the Trenches and vehicles on the outer perimeter, the Knight aligned it's massive autocannon at the forces in front of it, the giant gun screaming as flaming purple bolts tore through the air, annihilating anything unlucky enough to be in it's way. Finally nearing it's target, Leoroth focused on one thing, a platoon of Imperial Vehicles, which seemed to be the reason the Imperials hadn't broken yet. Raising his fist, the massive clawed gauntlet began to glow with purple light, and then blaze with entropic fire as he barrled forward and planted his massive fist firmly in the ground in the middle of the tank platoon. the cataclysmic force of the shock caused the few closest tanks to leap ever so slightly into the air as the ground spiked around them, and the immediate impact zone was set ablaze by purple fire. The only vehicle left in decent condition was the one in the front and furthest from the shockwave. A finely dressed man boldly staring up at the knight's face, as it too stared back into the commissars, those eyes filled with rage and spite only a few feet away from the Commissars. @Donairian
<Megabash> Their enemy had brought some sort of zoggin mini-gargant fing to the fight, Megabash was displeased to say the very least. Activating a long looted imperial comm bead a series of hushed (by Orkish standards) orders were growled across the line. " Alfa Git, time ta retreat start makin' back fer da fortress. Preserve ya cowahds while ya can. " Silence answered as far across the field both Eldar and Imperials alike found that no longer were there any bothersome Ork Kommandoes to pester them, a slightly smaller mob of elite sneaker gitz beating a hasty retreat back into the larger horde where they might as well of been invisible. Buzzin Power Klaw swiped another Astartes out of the way, a pair of chainswords lodged in his armor to no effect for the trouble and their owner finding himself split from groin to head by central saw klaw, the other two snipping off limp arms with ease. Letting half a ceramite encased torso rattle about between his murder fingers Megabash watched as land raider began to slowly rumble about to face he and his mob. Still several seconds from impact Megabash scowled and growled another order into his vox bead. "Dok Boom, boom time on da mini-gargant gribbly fing. " Another bout of silence answered as off toward the back of Orkish lines a Big Mek was situated upon a double barreled kannon, fourteen other such guns were all scattered behind him with their grot and bully crews working tirelessly to keep up the big boom dakka. Grinning like a Death Skull having gotten his hands on an Astartes' Armory a large rusty telescope looking git finda was held up nice and snug to left eye. Wherever its filthy glass sight fell every single vehicle in his artillery squadron would turn their guns at, a clever bit of rewiring and know wotz worked on some looted Tau drones enable such coordination that greenskin spotters and gunners could never hope to achieve with such efficiency. There wasn't even a need for orders as each crew kept their weapons lobbing high explosive shells into their foes while Dok Boom did every bit of the aiming. Suddenly 'Leoroth', and by proximity Commissar Dalimond, found both he and his Knight were under fire from sixteen barrels of good ol' fashioned Orkish fury. Even with an advanced spotting system accuracy wasn't exactly a guarantee but when one could blanket a targets location with that many shots it wasn't so much an issue. (@Donairian @Lord_Zial_Ghoul ) Back by Megabash three Meganobs had just crashed into the Land Raider, big nob in charge ordering his subordinates to deal with any comers while he himself moved to vehicles back side, abusing its flank with the ruined sponson to get in close without much risk to himself. Thrusting saw klaw forward a blood thirsty roared followed as power field sheathed fingers were forced deeper and deeper through heavy armor, rotary saws screaming in turn as they helped push through, given a minute without interruption whomever was unfortunate enough to be inside would no doubt be finding a very large greenskin monster in there with them.
Imperial Base Camp - Cadian Forward Command Post "I'm telling you Admiral, something just came crawling out of that warp rift. It was massive and looked like a giant worm or something. It burrowed itself into the ground, so I have no idea where it went" Colonel Bassk shouted into the vox, as the din of battle carried on around him. From his vantage point behind the second line, Bassk had a clear view of the battle raging around him. It would be the stuff of legend back home on Cadia! Guardsmen holding the line against Orks and heretics alike. Even if they did not survive, their actions here would go down through the Imperial histories. If they did survive, he'd be dead before he'd finish the paperwork for all the commendations he'd be presenting later. An unholy cry to his left made his blood run cold and his neck hair stand on end. Out of the hellish inferno that the heretics portal had become, loomed the most terrifying thing Bassk had ever seen. An Imperial Knight! Not one of the glorious machines that fought alongside the God-Machines of Mars. No, this was a perverted copy, marred by taint and rendered painful to even look at. Never in all his years had he seen such a thing. It roared something in blasphemous mockery of the Mechanicus binary cant, then charged headlong through the clashing mob of green skins and heretics. It hammered it's way through it's own lines and the press of Orks, tossing warriors and machines out of it's way like they were mere toys. It barreled straight through and fist first into the forward Imperial positions. Purple flames followed in it's wake. So did the screams. Not the screams of the dead or dying, but the damned! The wails of the monstrosity's innumerable victims clung to it like a cloak. If one stared long enough at it, you could see the shadows of the dead writhing in agony within the flames. Bassk couldn't bring himself to look away. It was too much. So much pain and suffering . . . A sudden jolt tore Bassk away from the creatures pull. His adjutant thrusting a vox handset into his gloved hand. He couldn't hear what the man was shouting. He just knew he had to answer it. As Bassk turned away from the carnage, the corrupted Knight's fist hammered down on Commissar Dalimond's tank platoon. Behind the blackened juggernaut, the enemy forces swarmed over the gaping wound in the Imperial lines. The Orks were pulling back, their momentum blunted by the heretics, but it didn't stop them from hammering the Imperial lines with crude artillery of their own. It was then that Bassk noticed the sudden silence of the Basilisk battery to his flank. What in the Emperor's name was going on? Bassk pressed the vox handset to his ear to make his report. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ H.D.M.S. Magnificent - Command Bridge Rear-Admiral Van Vorst smiled to himself, as he sipped a cup of his favorite blend of tea. He had several monitors around his command throne displaying orbital imagery of the ongoing bombardment. Watching the enemy forces be annihilated and the mountainside around that infernal warp rift be reduced to molten slag was most satisfying. A testament to might of the Imperial Navy. However, it was not sealing the rift as expected. No, whatever was sustaining it was far more powerful then they had anticipated. The Ship's Lady Navigator had reported such monumental energies at play, that if the rift was not sealed soon, it could destabilize and consume the entire world. Something drastic would need to be done, and soon. "Vorst, you need to see this!" Holstenn shouted, from his position at the central tactical holo. "No I don't, Holstenn. Do be quiet, your spoiling the moment" Vorst shot back. "Dammit you old fool, come here and look at this! They've just launched a devastating counter attack" Holstenn shot back. "I will not dignify your outburst, General, for a gentleman does not discus his age" Vorst snorted, returning to his tea. "To hell with your sensibilities, you void-damned goat! Those heretics have a WARP DAMNED KNIGHT! A KNIGHT-TITAN, VORST!" Holstenn screamed, drawing the attention of the entire bridge. Dismissing his screens, Vorst rose from his throne and marched down the steps of his raised dias and moved to join Holstenn at the tactical display. Sipping his tea the whole way. "General, if you will not reign in your composure, Sir, then I will have no choice but to ask you to . . ." His words died in his throat as his eyes locked onto the pict feed. His tea cup slipping from his hands and smashing on the deck plates. "By the Throne . . . it's true . . . a Knight? Where did they get a Knight?" Vorst stammered, the blood draining from his face. "I don't care where it came from Vorst!" Holstenn shouted, as he grabbed the older man by the front of his uniform. "I want you to destroy it! Blast the damn thing to smithereens!" "What? Have you lost your senses Holstenn?" Vorst shot back, pushing Holstenn off him and straightening himself. "That is a Knight, General. It has Void Shields, just the same as my warships!" "I'd kill more of your men trying to land a glancing blow, then the Knight would. They are too small to hit from orbit effectively. It would be out of range before I'd have time to correct the firing solution. If it was a larger Titan, then certainly, but a Knight? No" Vorst concluded. "You won't bombard it? Fine, launch your bombers and destroy it that way" Holstenn countered, his face getting red again. "Again, no. The collateral damage would be astronomical. A few gunships won't take out a Knight anyway, and I won't waste my anti-ship munitions on a land target" "Fine! Where are the Templars? Send the Astartes after it!" "I doubt Lord Azrael would consent to wasting his warriors against such a foe." "Alright. What about the Mechanicus? Surely the Archmagos has something that can deal with this?" "He might. I shall make inquiries" "No! you will order him to deploy his forces in support of our own!" "You haven't had many dealing with the Mechanicus before, have you General" "No, what of it?" "If you had, you would know that one does not make demands of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Aquila has two heads because of them, you know. The union of Terra and Mars. They bear the title of "Adeptus" purely to appease the other segments of the Imperium. The Fabricator-General, in truth, holds more power then all of the other High Lords combined" "Nonsense, Vorst. They are as much the Emperor's servants as we are" "Oh?" Vorst shot back, the look in his eye made Holstenn huff and look away. Vorst merely smiled. "Rember this always, General: One must ask the Mechanicum for aid. You might beg and may even plead, but you must never demand!" "What, even you?" "Yes, especially me. Who do you think asked Archmagos Veneratus Griess to join this endeavor? It certainly wasn't Segmentum Command." "Ha, no one refuses Segmentum Command!" "Don't fool yourself, General" Vorst chuckled, as he walked over to the vox station. "I can say with certainty, that the Archmagos his here only because it suits his purposes. If not for his curiosity, he would have never left his Forge World"
