<Megabash>
"Touch 'em or me ride an your dead. Da ride is mine, da stones belong to da boss. Go bovva 'im about it if ya wanna get stomped on yar. " Looking back down he noticed one of the spanner boys had just dropped a piece of metal plating. There was a moment of tension as they stared each other down. "You gonna pick that up or wot? " The spanner boy scrambled to retrieve his piece of the vehicle and start getting it bolted, hammered and welded on. Once all was done he looked up with a grin, giving a thumbs up and nodding frantically. That spanner boy drowned in heavy slugs a moment later. "Waz teztin da arma, should uv moved..."

"Yeah roight boss? Dem spanner boyz dumb!" Right cackled along with Left, both grots enjoying the show, watching their bullies getting bullied in turn. They were sorta safe with the mega-nob!

Kragger being a active member in the chaotic society has been inside command room barking orders at all the cultists amd demandimg the extraction of all the minerals and once his mission is complete he will be heading back to the garachia system but then he noticed a few blips in the orbital scanners (this is me assuming this is a full fledged fortress) kragg laughs maniacally "HAHAHAHAHA AHHHH THOSE IMPERIAL FOOLS ARE HERE" kragg tries to slick back his purple mohawk but it juts forward again then he goes onto the inter coms @Lord_Zial_Ghoul "HEY I HAVE SOMETHING YOUD ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO SEE!" kragg rubs his blastmaster and grins wildly at the blips now he finally has a challenge in a tactics view rather than the problem with the orks going ham on crazy planet

The whole time ned has been moving crates and useless tasks like moving stereo speakers amd other musical heavy equipment around because kragg needs to keep him.busy so ned wont feel stupid and get mad


Kragg promised the 25 cultists if they kept silent and alive they will be able to cruise the stars under his orders and to a cultist being on a tight ship isnt as fun as being with a loose cannon who gets aggresive ever so often

~Disciple Leoroth~
The young adept walked briskly through the dark red halls of the Chaos fortress, the vastness and complexity did little to stem his uncertainty as to where to find the master of the citadel. Leoroth had been given the important task to deliver an important message to Lord Zial, however he was already 20 minutes behind schedule and was no less lost than when he had started. The Young adept meandered amongst the hall with his dark cloak pulled up and the collar raised, more than once had he been cornered by a bloodthirsty member of the darker cults before, and once he even had a close encounter with some daemons who had gotten hold of an unlucky psyker. Everywhere he looked the halls remained the same, dark red grills inlaid into the walls gave off eerie glows, blood stains strewen across the corridors, as well as bodies from unfortunate "accidents" gave off the very oppressive and evil feel that surrmounted a vast part of the northern wastelands. Leoroth walked quickly through the halls, his eyes glued to the vast halls that stretched in front of him whilst his ears remained ever open to the sound of a stalker or worse. After another 10 minutes delay Leoroth finally found himself in a large antechamber, the wide circular room reminded him of the church's on the hive world he used to live in. It's position must have been close to the surface, for dark stained glass addorned the upper section and cast faint light into the room. In the center floated a large dark crystal, it's body seemed to have been chipped in certain places, and the cracks and openings caused a strange "essence" to leak out and trail off upwards. Leoroth was almost tempted to touch it, he had heard of strange gifts being granted to favored members of the cults, however any sensible person knew those "gifts" were not gained through good will and fortune. If living as an outcast thought him anything it was to take any boon for yourself, least you get killed or worse, and now was an excellent opportunity. Who knows what power this crystal would hold? Surely if it was placed here it had some special purpose. The worst that could happen would be if the sorcerers found out, but he was a dead man anyway. Leoroth almost drooled with excitement as he neared the crystal, drawing back his hood and revealing his scarred face and the marks of chaos adorning it, his eyes wide with anticipation and excitement. Extending his hand outwards he could feel the familiar buzz of energy that he sometimes felt when near the sorcerers, it was also like the crystal was whispering to him, demanding him to come closer. There was nothing stopping Leoroth to ablige and he made the final push to gain the power he wanted. But the oddest sensation filled him, for he realized he was no where close to the crystal and was all of a sudden on the ground. Suddenly his back filled with pain, and the revelation that he was thrown dawned on him. Looking up he could see the armored figure of a large chaos warrior, his scorning eyes seemingly dancing with glee at the prospect of torturing this insolent. For the longest time the warrior just stood there, looking down upon him with those strange glowing eyes, until Leoroth realized who he had just come into contact with.

~L~"M-My lord.. I have a message to delive-"

~Z~"Do not speak for I know why you are here. Your master sent a more capable follower under the implications that you were dead or otherwise and planned for just such an occasion. Though as it turned out you are not in fact... dead. No matter, i'm sure you understand the full consequences for such a failure, nothing is expected of you and yet you cannot even accomplish a simple task. How disgraceful."

Only a slight number of punishments came to mind at the mention of his failure, serving as a servant for the Sorcerers was a bad, painful existence, yet being the catalyst for a daemon summoning was no slow death either.

~Z~"However I am a gracious leader, and effort should not go un-awarded, especially not in my army. Therefore I have a special offer for you. You will serve as a soldier in the frontlines, however you will receive the blessings of the gods! Your strength will be trippled and your hands will become the instrument of your enemies devestation. You will command immense power, and it shall be eternal. You may accept this, or return to your master, your fate is your own, I hope you make the best choice."

Leoroth couldn't believe his ears. Never had he been treated with such kindness since entering the Black Legion. To be offered such power by a Lord? Truly he was destined for greatness.

~L~"I accept your grace! Please.. Grant me the power you speak of!"

~Z~"Very Well. You shall have it. Warpsmith Erial, take this one to the Soul Forge. Bind him to the Knight Erradicus and prepare his new body for the assault."

From behind one of the pillars came a rather tall warpsmith, his mechatendrils all standing on edge behind him and a wicked looking axe in his hand. Behind him came another robed figure, who'm Leoroth would only a short while later find out to be his master.

~E~{As you wish my Lord, It shall be done at once}
Extending the tendrils at once, the Warpsmith wrapped around the cultsits, nearly suffocating the small, shocked man.

~L~"Wait... WAIT WHAT? BINDING? What about my power??? What about your promise?" But his words only fell on deft ears as he was dragged behind the Warpsmith down a darkened hallway, two Damned Space Marines quickly fell in step behind the Engineer, and they were soon lost in the shadows.

~Z~"You did well Setk. I should look into having you become cult master."

~S~"You are too kind my Lord. I'm simply opperating for the benefit of our eternal masters"

~Z~"Good. it was hard enough finding a catalyst for this crystal. But now we have our person. And we can finally fuse the Knight to a host. Your service will be well rewarded I promise you"

At that moment a loud blare could be hear over the comms inlaid into the fortress

~~~"LORD ZIAL I HAVE SOMETHING YOU'D ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO SEE"~~~~ @torque

~Z~"It appears duty calls. Return to your holding and prepare your forces for battle. We must deter the orks away from us and Punish the Imperials for coming close to this planet. go now at once"

With a subtle bow the Cult Master left the chamber, leaving only the Chaos Lord inside the room, who quickly warped to deal with Kragger and use what little time left to prepare for the Imperials assault.

<Ead Ztompa> @DeranVendar
The ork suddenly felt like his dream had been shattered. The rules he was forced to follow sounded to Ead Ztompa unfair and unnecessary, as he thought he wouldn't have touched even a single tiny pebble.
Maybe one.
Or some dozens.
Half of the entire lot sounded more reasonable, though.
Actually, probably he would have stolen all of the pile, in addition to the metal plates supporting the mekshop.
If only it wasn't for Megabash...

"Fine den! Keep all da flashy toys fer yerself! Just tell me if dere's nuffin dat needs to be krumped, or must I ask dat to da Bozz as well?"
The Deffskull was always annoyed in presence of Megabash, not because of some leadership struggle, but the reason was mostly the two gretchins he always carried around with him. When there was the Goff, stealing anything was always too risky. One day or the other the stormnob will probably take both of those little pesky creatures for some grot bombing raids.

Besides, an other thing that made the deffskull feel uneasy when near to Megabash was that the black painted ork always seemed too much chatterer for a greenskin belonging to the most violent clan.
For the time being, though, he preferred sticking his doubts into the barrel of a slugga and corcerning more impelling matters, such as the next scheduled fungus beer.

Ahhhh look who arrived" kragg smiled as he stands near a few pannels of beeping lights " i expect your crystal project is working?" Kragg then shook his head so hed so hed stay on topic "errrr never mind that but gey look at this sonar and tell me........ what is it you see?" Kragg sits their smiling that he belives he found the imperials on the long range scanners but again it could be the remaining imperials while the other cultists in the toom avoid standing near kragg for if it isnt anything at all something gerastic may happen for wasting the lords time but kragg is certain its on coming imperials

"Yes yes... we finally were able to extract enough essence from the crystals to infuse into the knight. Now we only have to test it's effects in the heat of battle. I hope at the very least it creates a massive explosion if our project was a failure. The best outcome is that it completely ravishes the entirety of the imperial forces but this is again.... highly doubtful. But i'm not here to waste my time on pointless conversation. Let me see what you have to show me, I have important things to do."

Zial walked over to where Kragger was standing, the large radar cogitator was displaying a number of white lights on the far southern side of the planets orbit.

"Finally. Took them long enough, it would appear they are finally kicking their forces into motion. Thank you Kragger for telling me. We must establish a forward foothold at once."

Moving to the center of the command facility, Zial placed a bulky finger on the comms button, opening multiple channels all over the fortress. From hidden speakers and amplifiers came a static crackle and then the harsh voice of the Chaos Lord.

{Warriors and Champions of Chaos. The enemy shall soon make planetfall. As such we will respond to then with force. Anyone who offers themselves willingly will meet in the grand courtyard in one hour. The rest will be called upon and receive no such benefit. Prepare yourselves for combat! Glory to the Dark Gods!}

Zial relinquished his finger on one button, only to place it on another that was silently glowing green.

{Master Setk. This is your prime moment. You will leadnour forces to battle. I hope you have made preparations for this}

~{indeed my lord. I am ready to begin when you are. I have just received word from Warpsmith Erial that Leoroth's binding was successful. He is ready to besiege the imperials.}

{Good. Than I shall leave it up to you to handle them. Do not fail me Setk}

With that last phrase he ended the comm abruptly, motioning for Kragger and his Ogryn to follow him.

"Come. We have work to do"

@torque

Kragger after hearing its possibly working "that is wonderful news im aure it will work it has to" then kragger smiles and replies once hes done with the comms "oh its all in a days work my lord and of coarse me and ned will follow you every step on what ever needs done" ned nods his head "yesh boss i can do what eva you needs done" then he says quietly "as long as i get my grog" kragg smacks ned on the back of the head and gives him a death glare then kragg asks "but may i ask.my lord what is it you request?" Cultists all start hurrying while some of the others who arnt going pretend their going by rushing what their doing and heading off somewhere lookimg out the window you could only assume that a wild fire was going off from the ammount of cultists and a very few amount of chaos space marines as to where the chaos.space marines on guard know they are more needed on the wall and then kragg shifts his attention onto zial

"We simply have some minor preparations to make. I'm sure that the Champion I sent out to lead our attack force won't make it back alive."

Zial quickly grabs Kragg and pulls him in a little bit closer to his face

"I want you to make sure he dosen't. By any means necessary. It's our best way to keep these cultists in line."

Releashing Kragger from his grab the chaos lord begins to advace slowly on the door, all the while operators and menials are running out of the way from the Champion of Chaos.

"Oh and one other thing. While we're out there.. for yes, I will be going, I want you to keep a close eye on Leoroth. It took nearly a year to extract the necessary power from those damnable crystals to optimize him. I don't want one of our new weapons to go to waste. I won't be with you for very long, but I will be there, can I be assured that you will put on a marvelous display of destruction for me?"

@torque

Kragg is absolutely shocked and confused that zial wants him to kill a chanpion "errr yes sir ill make sure he absolutely will not take a single step back one step back ill make sure hes nothing but rubble" kragg laughs to himself "im sure he will make such a wonderful sound" ned scratches his head and looks at kragg and zial with a confused stare "does this mean i can kill stuff?" Kragg nods his head " aye many many many things" kragg then looks out the window watching them" them kragg looks out the window watching them contemplating on why he wants him dead and how could his death instill order into the cultists he strokes his chin and has a wicked smile on his face

H.D.M.S. Magnificent - High Orbit over Immundra V Equatorial Zone
Command Bridge

Two days. The longest two days he had ever suffered though.

Brigadier-General Edvardius Holstenn stood on the forward observation deck, at ease, his gloved hands folded behind his back, as he oversaw the deployment of his forces. Hundreds of troop carriers and dozens of heavy transports ferried troops, equipment and vehicles from the waiting holds of the fleet, down to the overgrown surface.

Despite his outward calm, a sense of trepidation gnawed at his insides. This was it. He was at last going to lead a campaign on his own. His leadership and skill would be put to the test. Failure here would mark the end of his career. All of his efforts to advance himself would be for nought. Everything hinged on his decisions in the coming days.

Immundra V would be the stepping stone onto his path of greatness or the pitfall into his descent into ruin and a firing squad.

Since their arrival, they had been buzzed by Chaos fighter craft, but they had been chased off in short order. The Archenemy fleet had made no move to intercept them. Neither side would until the moment was opportune, lest they expose their ground forces to orbital bombardment.

Despite the rough equality in their opposing fleet dispositions, the Imperium had a unique advantage over their enemies: their accompanying squadrons of Frigates were small enough to operate within the atmosphere of Immundra V, allowing them to descend into the upper atmosphere and protect the waves of vulnerable transports. Furthermore, they would be able to maintain station over the construction site of their new base of operations, providing fire support as needed. Most advantageous.

Overall, his deployment plans were bearing fruit. He had to make slight modifications of course. Due to the density of the overgrowth, they had to shell the proposed site from orbit first, in order to make a suitable clearing for landing craft. As well, the Gortex recon teams had to be deployed by Valkyrie transports and dropped somewhat further from the initial landing zones then previously decided. The Imperium had to remain flexible, but the local geography was making this exorbitantly complicated.

Such is the way of the universe, he mused. Besides, all of his carefully laid plans wouldn't survive the first engagement anyway. A two front war would develop more rapidly then he cared to think about. They would have a few days respite until then, while their enemies mustered their forces. By then the construction would be complete and the fortifications in the western highlands would be ready to repel the enemy.

Meanwhile, Archmagos Griess and his survey team were en-route to the mysterious crater. Intent on collecting the crystal samples he needed to study. Two full wings of fighter escorts accompanied him to protect his transport, and the Frigate Guardian 1 was close behind. Guardian 1 would remain on station over the crater itself and protect it from the enemy.

It was they best thing they could so for now. Once Guardian 1 took position, the enemy would realize the Imperium's interest in the crater and would respond in kind. Blood would be shed before long.

All Edvardius had to do was ensure that the enemy bled harder.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mechanicus Survey Team - Crater Site

The bulky and inelegant transport, it's hull painted in the icon rust red and emblazoned with the toothed cog icon of the Mechanicum, touched down with a fiery burst of it's afterburners, scorching a large tract of earth as it settled on it's landing gear. As flames still crackled on the charred vegetation, the loading ramp descend with a heavy whine of hydraulics.

The occupants wasted no time in disembarking, as a quartet of Kataphron Battle Servitors trundled out into the blackened, makeshift clearing on the craters edge. They were followed by four squads of Skitarii Rangers, weapons at the ready, as they secured the landing site.

Once his troops reported the area was secured, Archmagos Veneratus Gearhart Griess scuttled down the ramp, his brass-gilded stilt legs leaving a unique path in the ash behind him. He was followed by several Tech-Priests clad in Hazardous Environment Suits, reminiscent of the Astartes Tactical Dreadnought Armour, but equipment for scientific work, not war. Two dozen servitors followed behind them, equipped with all manner of laser cutters, plasma torches, power hammers and mag-chisels.

Gearhart wasted no time on pleasantries or words of encouragement.

[Command: Commence sample collection] he barked in Technia Linguis, the binary machine-code dialect of the Mechanicum. [Statement: 30 minute timer started. Operations to cease at minute 25. Embark transport by minute 28. Departure by minute 30. Failure is unacceptable. All glory to the Omnissiah! Deus Ex Machina]

[Deus Ex Machina] was the singular reply by all of his servants. They set about their task in earnest. Their time was precious. The enemy would know of their presence before long.

High above, the Imperial Navy Frigate Guardian 1 settled into station, as the attack wings of Lightning fighters that had escorted the Archmagos' transport buzzed around it in defensive formations. All sensor arrays were sweeping for enemy contacts, their crews waiting for the inevitable.