Eldritch deployed alongside the Blood Angels, his squad more than ready. "AA guns are priority, the Eldar have disabled their long range guns but we need the short range guns down to bring our Thunderhawks in for fire support. After that disable any other gun emplacements, leave them with little to no defense." Eldritch moved closer to Medathron. "On your mark."

Chaos Warhost - Armoured Column
Less then 3KM from Celestial Stair

The forces of Chaos had been making swift progress. The level terrain and cover of darkness had allowed them to proceed unchallenged. However, several recent reports had greatly darkened their demeanor. Within the confines of his Land Raider, Magnarax was at a loss. The entire battle had just shifted out of his favour and into the realm of the unknown.

First had been a message from Malkar. The Night Lord had reported that the Tyranid forces had withdraw into the mountain itself and more disturbingly, the massive pools of raw bio-mass had sank into the cavernous depth as well. His auspex reading confirmed the reports. The Tyranids were clearly more intelligent then he gave them credit for. No matter, he would let them hide in their burrows. He would just have to smoke them out.

However, the next report he received was far more alarming. From the supposed safety of the Citadel, Arch-Heretek Kraven had reported that the Eldar had launched a surprise assault, successfully destroying the primary comms relay and wrecking havoc amongst the garrison. They had fled in short order, before an form of counter attack could be mounted. Blasted Xenos. He did not now how them manged to slip into the perimeter undetected, but it did not matter. If they could launch an assault so easily, then they were close enough to the Citadel to be hunted down. Judarius was already searching for them. Magnarax was certain that the Arch-Heretek would find them, and slaughter them all.

But the terrible news did not end there. Heinzrich was dead. His chamber in the uppermost spire have been found empty, with nothing but blackened ashes scattered all around. Clearly the arrogant Sorcerer had indulged to much into the warp, and had paid the price for it. Unfortunate, but the warp storm was still raging unabated. Heinrich's sacrifice had bore fruit after all. Magnarax would make efforts to revive the Sorcerer's soul. Loyal servants were difficult to procure, ones that were actually useful even more so.

Alas, even that was not the worst of it. Magnarax had also been informed that the Tyranids had received reinforcements. A fresh tendril of Xeno ships had punched through the warpstorm, and were even now approaching the planet. Curiously though, they were headed directly for the colossal Hive-Ship that remained at high orbit. Scattered reports had all filtered in that they were even firing on each other. The truth was difficult to ascertain, but it gave rise to suspicions of what exactly was going on with the Tyranids. Perhaps the warpstorm was effecting the Hive-Minds control over it's own creatures. Magnarax was uncertain, but he would see to it that every last one of the chittering wretches were crushed beneath his iron heel.

He had much work to do, if Chaos was to triumph here. He opened a channel to Malkar and the insertion force.

"Malkar, Epidemius, Uragesh!" Magnarax growled, as a new plan sorted itself in his mind. "You are to withdraw from your position. The Tyranids clearly expect us to come to them. I will not waste our forces on such a foolish assault. Get back into the air and head to the west. Rendezvous with the Word Bearers at their fortifications. I cannot reach them over the Vox. Find out what they doing" He ordered, his mind racing with details he needed to sort out and quickly. They would need close cohesion with sons of Lorgar. Only the combined might of Chaos would stand a chance at victory. Whether Magnarax liked to admit it or not.

"While your at it, Epidemius" Magnarax began, as a wicked idea rose to the forefront of his mind. "Deploy one of the pathogen canisters on the Orks assaulting the Word Bearers. I want to see it's effectiveness on the massed ranks of the enemy. Report it's success as soon as you are able"

With that, Magnarax released the vox link. He trusted that Malkar would obey, at least for now. Even the Night Lords wouldn't be able to infiltrate the mountain on their own. No, they needed Magnarax to open the way, and he would. Besides, their would be far fewer witnesses in the depths of the mountain. Malkar could be disposed of quietly. Not yet though, for he would need the Night Lords stealth to ensure that the Tyranid bio-mass was irreparably tainted.

For now, he would tear the mountain apart, one shell at a time. He would see the Xenos hiding within trapped within their own tunnels and crushed under metric tons of rubble. He could excavate the artifact later.

With that, the vast column of tanks and transports came to a halt. The transports rolled forwards and discharged the thousands of soldiers of the Dread Korps. They set to work digging a trench work that would form the basis of a defensive line. The excavators and their crews set to work, digging deep furrows in the hard earth. The artillery meanwhile, set out establishing a staggered firing line. The Basilisks and Medusa siege guns taking position to the rear, while the shorter ranged mortars and field pieces were set up to protect the troops while they dug. Magnarax positioned his tanks squadrons as to provide the best support to the infantry , keeping his own Land Raider and the majority of his Predators in reserve, ready to reinforce any position that was threatening to collapse.

In less then twenty minutes, the barrels of his guns were pointed skywards, and the first shells began to rain down on the Celestial Stair. The echo of detonations was a welcome sound to Magnarax's ears, as he observed the bustle of activity from the top hatch of his Land Raider.

A sudden tremor caught his attention, as the very earth began to quake. Magnarax's gaze was immediately drawn to the titanic shadow of the mountain, as bizarre energies began to crackle over it's surface. The world was suddenly brightened, as a massive shaft of light erupted from the peak of the Celestial Stair, piercing the heavens themselves, and dispersing the dark clouds conjured by Heinzrich's power. In their place, new storm clouds began to form, spiraling outwards from the vibrant shaft of light that emanated from the mountain. Strange forks of gleaming lighting lit up the sky. Their brilliance leaving after images on the retinas. Magnarax felt a disgusting familiarity about them. They bore the faintest familiarity of the Astronomicon. The Corpse-Emperor's light made manifest.

By the Warp, what had those Xenos done?

As he gazed at the terrible sight, he felt the faintest scratching at the back of his mind. He did not need to be a Sorcerer himself to know what had happened. It seemed that the artifact was now activated, or that some terrible defensive mechanism had been unleashed. Due to the lack of response from the Xenos, he suspected the latter.

Just as suddenly as the light came, it was gone. The storm remained however, and it's power was undeniable. It resonated with psyhic power, but it was not the power of the warp. At least, not as Magnarax recognised it. No it was something else entirely.

Magnarax tried to raised the Citadel, to get some form of confirmation as to what he was witnessing, but only static answered him.

"My Lord" Kaz'agad, Magnarax's second in command, interrupted, as he approached. "We have lost contact with our Citadel and our allies beyond this . . .barrier? What are your orders?"

"Hmm. It would seem as if we are once again one step behind. Our enemies have beaten us to the prize, and yet, I believe this has only just begun. There are powers at work here. Ancient, terrible and beyond any of us. I do not know who reached the artifact first, but I sense they will soon come to regret it. This whole affair reeks of a greater hand at work. Be it Tzeentch's or something even more terrible, I do not know. What I can assume, though, is that we have been used. I doubt even the Warmaster truly understood what he sent us to recover."

"Then what shall we do, my Warsmith?" Kaz'agad inquired, a hint of unease in his voice.

"For now, we proceed as I have ordered. We will bring down this mountain and kill everything that stands in our way. I will not turn back now, not with our prize so close. However, a question burns within me."

"What question is that, Lord Magnarax?" Kaz'agad asked, unnerved by the light he saw in his Lord's eyes.

"My question, Kaz'agad, is this: Does our enemy control the Artifact? Or does it control our enemies?"

"What sort of proposal?" Sel queried warily.
"Your hope that the Astartes would attack is underway, though the attack will be slowed soon unless we capitalize on it."

A blast of air rushed past the Eldar as the atmosphere reacted to some violent event. Selhiat turned with Lithinian to see the smoke rising above the mountains where the Citadel laid and distant silhouettes danced above the flak fire. Thunderhawks.

Though his reaction was to look at the Citadel, that was not where the rush of air had originated from. From atop the cliff, the Autarch could distantly, but clearly see a ring of clouds laced with lightning energized by some malign entity, centered above the so-called Celestial Stair. Something was escalating.

"The Astartes are biting something marginally larger than they can chew," Lithinian said, "although the Citadel would be theirs in time, this is time they do not have."
"I find that it's time that now none of us have," Sel remarked, looking at the desperate mountains in the distance.
"So, I advise the Saim-Hanni commit their raids now, before the dark forces have time to breathe, and there's someone we need to meet," Lithinian suggested.
"Who is that?"
"A friend of a friend."
"Could you be more specific?"
"No. Surprisingly enough, it's better this way. And funnier."
"I'm starting to really get tired of this, friend."
"I'm not. You should really notify Atharys that forces are approaching our position and that they should split around these mountain ranges, and assault the north and western sides of the Citadel while the Astartes still have momentum."

"No need," Atharys interjected while walking from his tent having donned his warp jump pack, "we need this assault, if for anything less, then for morale."
"And it was so hard to convince you," Sel jested.
"We had better go," Lithinian said, pressuring Sel to hasten.

Atharys called up his comm beacon, "Saim-Hanni, now is our time. All combatants to battle stations, all support to the webway. Pack up the camp."
"I will notify Maenlianar to begin inserting near the enemy positions around the Celestial Stair," Sel posited, "we need to secure that mountain."
"You do that, I've been waiting for this day for too long," Atharys enthused.
"Alright Lithinian, let's go."

The camp was frantic with motion as the Eldar packed away the camp at a blistering pace. The Saim-Hanni had been chomping at the bit for this moment, and they were prepared for it. Bikes fired up and grav-tanks lifted high as the craftworld's forces readied. Support staff packed the tents into the webway and in between the ruckus, Sel and Lithinian made a separate departure through the portal.

"Ranger team Veridian to Atharys: a chaos hunting team is approaching the camp from the southeast. Please advise," Sel overheard on his command channel.
"Engage them lightly and retreat to the south west, lead them astray as we deploy to the Citadel," Atharys commanded.
"Will do."

"So they did follow us," Sel considered, "but where are we going, Lithinian?"
"Take us here," the farseer directed to the busied wayseer via a datapad, "it is a small detour."
She affirmed his request.
"We are going to assure the Saim-Hanni's strike succeeds," Lithinian said as the portal recalibrated and he stepped through the wall of energy.
Sel sighed, following suit....

And he appeared besides Lithinian behind an Astartes and a space marine dreadnought, on the ground, surrounded by moving Imperial equipment.

"Hello," Lithinian cheerfully said, in the harsh tones of High Gothic.

Alpha strolled quietly next to the floating Zoanthrope, and the two discussed the new developments that have occurred. It seemed that the Chaos forces are now assaulting the very empty mountain they had both cleared the vicinity of. If they had been less cautious, they would've found the empty armors and weapons of their loyalists brothers in the maze underneath. It is of no concern now, they had to move to their next steps. Alpha had just made contact with the Hive Mind above, and three of the unengaged and large hive ships are now orbiting near above. The Hive Tyrant Prime was also informed of several psyker presence attempting to track them. Alpha will make their task easier for these intruders. With a single focus, he directs the final preparations of his plans.

The entire reunited army of loyal tyranid forces suddenly came to a halt, and all of the lesser creatures from the first army, every single one, threw themselves into a massive biopool, that became a lake, and then an underground ocean within the matter of hours. From this neon green tide a massive capillary tower, the size almost eclipsing the mountain they had just left, ripped out. The goliath tower punctured the top of the massive tunnel and ripped unto the surface, shooting straight for the heavens. Higher and higher it rose, until the tip of it touched the upper atmosphere of the planet. The Hive Tyranid guarding the artifact tossed it into the biopool below, and up the tower it shot, straight at the hive ships above.

Alpha nodded to the Zoanthrope leader, and the Zoanthrope council followed suit, allowing their bodies to be digested, reincorperated their consciousness and power into the hive mind above, and to be redeployed later as needed. The massive digestion pool began to drain upwards, allowing new hive ships to form in orbit for the Hive Mind, yet only one ship was constructed at a time, something that puzzled Alpha. The Hive Tyrant Prime knew better than to question, and expected an answer should he need it to complete the next order.

Of the first army, Alpha split into two groups. One had headed to the surface to guard the capillary tower, led by himself. These contained mostly defensive units, living turrets along with living artillery pieces and a lot of spore minds. The second section would be led by the Hive Tyrant that had guarded the artifact, accompanied by the Lictor. This section would dig eastward, a fallback in case all should go wrong. This section includes more melee heavy units, including all of the underground units. With the assistance of the trygons and mawlocs, they quickly headed east, taking care to avoid most of the existing forces. Alpha watched as the last of the slithering tails disappear into the darkness, and headed up top himself.

The Hive Tyrant Prime stood in front of the Capillary Tower and watched as the artifact made its way higher and higher into the air, followed later by the biomass for the new fleet above. They would grow to rebuild Kraken, they would become a hive fleet worthy of the Swarmlord's pride once again.

OOC: Collaborated with Nate to make this one.

Eldritch noticed a flash of light behind and turned quickly raising his bolter. The light faded revealing two Eldar, an Autarch and a Farseer.

"Hello," Lithinian cheerfully said, in the harsh tones of High Gothic.

"Rather bold of you to appear in the middle of Imperial troops." Eldritch replied, removing his helm to reveal a slight smile, and a single scar descending from his left eye to right chin. Eldritch lowered his weapons and waved his hand downwards signaling the others to lower their weapons as well.

"Thank you, though it is not really bold when one already knows the outcome," Lithinian said. Sel had already raised his fusion pistol and lowered it in tandem with the marines, barely less confused than they were.

Speaking in Eldar, Sel whispered, "Lithinian, you really want us to work with the mon'keigh? They who are so swift to-" Sel stopped as he noticed the witchblade at the waist of the Force Commander. "They who are so swift to attack us!" he shouted in High Gothic while pointing at the weapon, raising his fusion pistol in tandem. The Marines followed suit in protection of their commander.

"Dinne Lir?" Eldritch stated placing his hand on the Witchblade. "You have it all wrong. Selhiat, Autarch of Ulthwe is it? No Eldar blood was spilled in acquisition of this weapon. Quite the opposite actually." He said pointing to the scar across his face.

Sel fumed, "How can you p-"

"Stay your blade, Autarch!" Lithinian interrupted. "Another seer gifted that blade to him. An old friend."

"And they would give a gift of such value to these murderers? A gift they could not even use?" Selhiat questioned.

"Yes, actually," the old seer answered.

"Well then I'm sure this will be enlightening," Sel conjectured, hiding the internal shock that this beast of a mon'keigh knew him by name.

Sel corrected his stance, as the commander would not have received the blade without good reason. "I am glad to see you are taking advantage of our raid on the dark forces' sensors and defenses. We can have reinforcements cripple key strongpoints, but it would be of great use to not worry about taking fire from your forces. Can this be guaranteed?"

"Our forces are under constant siege by Tyranids, Orks, and Chaos Marines. We're barely holding our own, I'm positive it can be guaranteed. They have more than enough reason to agree." Eldritch replied knowing the Marines would agree, they had to.

Studying the Astartes face carefully, Sel followed it word by word. His words seemed terse and wearied by some weight, his face showed concern and some degree of...humility? It was far from Selhiat's repetoire to distinguish between Eldar and human emotional clues, but it almost felt as though the Commander did not enjoy having to command. There must be a story there, Sel thought, though it felt clear the Force Commander was being perfectly honest with the Autarch.

"Alright," Sel confirmed in the painfully brutal language of High Gothic, "I will affirm the Saim-Hanni's attack vectors from the North and West, and we shall strike at speed, removing the enemies' ability to fight back so long as you do not permit them to move or turn to face us."

Eldritch nodded. "We will strike them hard, and with such ferocity they will have no choice but to focus their weapons upon us, once you arrive. They will be too shaken to react." He stated, a smirk appearing across his face at the thought of the coming bloodshed.

"Do you have sway over the Astartes assailing the mountain?" Sel queried as he pointed to the Celestial Stair.

"Sway?" Eldritch pondered the word in his head for a moment. "I can not guarantee 'sway', but I have voice as the Space Wolf Force Commander, of which I will use to sway the others if you so desire."

"I might be able to contribute similar attacks to the Ultramarines' and other such forces near the mountain, but I am restricted in motion because of the Astartes near it threatening our troops should we overextend."

"I have as much voice over them as you have the forces of the other Craftworlds Selhiat, but I assure you, this does not mean I wont try, for I will."

"Anything would help at this stage," Sel said, looking to the farseer, thinking what stars' annihilation would be required to remove the grin from the old Eldar's face. "You could've warned me," Sel said in Eldar. "I could have but then you would not have warmed up as quickly as you did. I have my reasons," Lithinian reasoned.

"Tell me Selhiat, anything I can do to ease your discomfort?" Eldritch stated, the Autarch obviously not accustomed to cooperating with humans. The cooperation between the two races would not end well if both we're expecting to be stabbed in the back at any moment.

Taken aback by the Astartes' shockingly considerate attitude, Sel paused for a brief moment in confusion. Selhiat was possibly more discomforted by the Astartes' care for his discomfort than anything else. "I'll..." Sel stopped himself, still puzzled, "...let us deal with the assault at hand for now, lest our tarrying cost undue losses."

"Fair enough, I'll get word out that your troops are not to be engaged immediately. " Eldritch responded.

"Immediately?" Sel spat, "Please try to settle with just 'engaged'."

Eldritch chuckled. "I mean I shall tell them as soon as possible."

"Hold it!" Lithinian stopped Selhiat, "It was a joke."

"Some sense of humor," Sel rejected, "you'd better be right on this, Seer."

"I do not find this time to be appropriate for jokes, human," Sel said, "lives hang in the balance."

"There was no joke Autarch." Eldritch replied. "A mere misunderstanding. By 'immediately' I meant I shall inform my Marines right now, that your troops are not to be engaged. I did not mean 'for the moment' they are not to be engaged."

"Tread carefully, human," Sel warned, "contact your allies, and we must then discuss troop maneuvers. This will need precision," Sel said while switching his comm beacon to contact Atharys.

Eldritch nodded then activated his vox and contacted the other Marines and their Commanders. "The Eldar are seeking a truce and are willing to assist us in the battle against our enemies. I advise we accept, with Tyranids, Orks, and Chaos battering at our doorstep, we cant afford an increase in the number of our enemies. I await a response and advise this be answered immediately."

Threadcutter observed the arrival of the Blood Angels and the Wolf Lord's retinue. Seizing his opportunity, he began scanning for any traitors that seemed to be shouting orders or... There!

Along the battlements, he could make out a strangely decorated traitor marine as he roared to his underlings, the whole affair like a strange silent drama from so far away. Cultists scattered as the marine stormed onto the battlements with his fellows in tow.

The terrible weather seemed to be a norm on this planet and Threadcutter snorted as it brought back memories of hunting sea serpents and kraken in the glacial waters of Fenris, he could swear he smelled salt water. The reminiscence was going to have to wait.

Taking a deep breath and slowly squeezing the trigger he felt the kick as the weapon released it's projectile. He smiled as the round found its mark...

Through his scope Threadcutter watched as the traitor turned and looked right at him, the accursed creature smiled wickedly. Rallying, Threadcutter repeated his shot another handful of times. Each shot found a mark in one of the damned traitor's retinue, the armor piercing rounds tearing off limbs or dropping unintended targets dead at the traitor's feet.

In the back of Skarlm's mind he hears a soft whisper that matches movements of the traitor's lips.

"I see you..."

Skarlm's hackles rise as the chaos marine raises his bolter and fires.

After receiving new orders from the Warsmith, Malkar led his raptors back to their Thunderhawks and they set out towards the Word Bearers encampment. Shortly after takeoff, the aircraft were buffeted by fierce winds and had to weave around several bursts of lightning. Looking back Malkar saw the Celestial Stair lit up by psychic light, and heard a strange ethereal voice whispering in his ear. Shaking his head, the Night Lord turns his mind back to the task at hand.

Once the Thunderhawks were a few miles away from the Word Bearers base the pilot alerted Malkar to the forces attacking the encampment. The Night Lord voxes Magnarax to inform him of the situation before coming up with a plan of attack. After a few minutes of thought, he returns to the Thunderhawks hold to brief the raptors. "Brothers, our allies are under siege from the Loyalist bastards. We will use this opportunity to cripple the Imperial scum. We'll deploy in three groups, two groups will each take a Devastator squad and flank the Loyalists on either side. You will cut the bastards apart in a crossfire and open them up for a precise strike from the third group. Led by me, the thrid group will strike from the skies when the leaders have revealed themselves. The Thunderhawks will stay in reserve to provide extraction after the attack." The raptors all informed of their part, Malkar voxes Uragesh to ask for his aid. "I'm sure your pilots have already told you of the enemies ahead. My Night Lords and I are going to try and relieve the Word Bearers, can I count on your assistance in assualting the Loyalists?"

After finishing his planning, Malkar's Night Lords split up to fulfill their parts. Most of them departed their Thunderhawks a short distance from the Loyalists in order to sneak up undetected, but Malkar's Thunderhawk flew high up into the atmosphere above the battle to wait for the perfect moment to strike.

Standing in silence as the ground around them rumbled, DeRojo couldn't help but wonder by what trickery was causing the planet herself to convulse and heave as if she had gone into cardiac arrest. Every few seconds, the sound became louder and more vibrant, 'Move from here!', DeRojo commanded of his squad and they fell back to the outcropping of the trees. Not a moment too soon; Just as DeRojo reached his staging point, a massive Tendril like, living structure, writhing and convulsing as it stretched skyward, emerged from the ground. 'By Sanguinius wings,' began Raja, 'what is that!?' In time, DeRojo would respond by stating how it must be a Tyranid capillary, monstrous organs designed to channel biomass to Hive Fleets. However, DeRojo was struck confused, the only reports he had ever read only mentioned such things as originating from the Hive Fleets in orbit... not from beneath the surface of a planet... 'Coming to his senses, DeRojo realized that the Tendril was still moving upwards and that, by some weird turn of events, it was able to puncture through the strange shield which covered the entire area, blocking earlier communications. '2nd Lt. Wol'varius McLogan, attach a comms relay on that thing, ASAP!' DeRojo barks. They must establish communications. However, to be cautious, DeRojo created a message completed with photos and other pertinent information such as the "shield covering the immediate area and to approach with caution" and transmitted the message to the comms device attached to the Tendril. The comms device will than send the message out once it establishes a connection after passing through the barrier.

'Prepare, brothers!!! The Tyranids seemed to have struck first, the way you said it would be, DeRojo,' Raja stated with a smile. 'We are forced to change tactics!' DeRojo began motioning his men to their battle positions, out of sight of any eyes that would emerge from the earth around the Tendril. After a long wait, the Astartes unit from the Angels Sanguine watched as the tyranids began pouring out of the ground. With a faint light lighting up within his HUD, DeRojo received confirmation that the message was successfully delivered. Saddly, however, he has no way of knowing when, if at all, back up would arrive. 'Brother Antiquas', You know what to do.' With a deep, mechanized voice, the Dread confirmed over vox, 'Firing!'

In a blink of an eye, a super charged, high intensity beam ripped through the air. Making sure to be far enough away from the Tendril so as not to be affected by the ground moving, yet close enough so as not to be out of range, Antiquas was in a perfect, hidden position to create chaos for their Xeno foe. Hitting high above the heads of the Xenos guarding the Tendril, the beam began to super charge the very matter of which the tendril was made out of. After a mere few seconds, the Tendril exploded. The explosion was incredibly intense as these tendrils must be extremely dense to not only reach into space but to safe guard it's disgusting biomass from the effects of sub freezing space temperatures. With the biomass falling back to the ground, drenching the tyranids and obscuring any scent of the Astartes by showering the area with the scent of biomass, the Tyranids, save for one, looked to be confused.

In an instant, Scout master Lancer chimes over the voxx 'Cpt. DeRojo, all has been prepared and the large Blood Angels' force should be detectable to the South East of that monstrous thing.', 'Thank you brother,' responds DeRojo, 'Keep between us and them and inform me of any... appropriate changes; out!' DeRojo takes up firing positions to the left of the direction to which the beam hit the tendril.

Just then, Tyranids opened fire. Their living ammo clumsily searching for a target amongst the trees, rocks and outgrowth. Marking the strike point, DeRojo makes his position known. Within sufficient cover to protect himself from medium to small fire, DeRojo sent bolter fire tearing into the Tyranids. With the Tyranids dropping one at a time and scurrying around, unable to keep their footing as the biomass periodically fell back to earth, knocking them down like a huge wave plummeting to the ground from a top an ever rising wave. However, there is no time to think, DeRojo can see what appears to be a dominant Tyranid. Yes, an Alpha Tyranid; Tyranicus praefactor. 'Extremely deadly', DeRojo lets the factual statement run through his mind so as to keep him level headed with respect. Disrespecting what should be respected can be a fatal mistake which has the tendency to leave many whom have not learned such a lesson, in a position where they will never have to learn anything ever again...

Selhiat called up Atharys, "Sel to Atharys; I have news."
"Please be quick, we are riding low around the mountain range."
"A truce has been secured with the Astartes, the Space Wolves have agreed and we are awaiting the rests' confirmation."
"So you did take heed to our discussion."
"Lithinian was...persuasive."
"Hehe, alright, anything else?"
"We need to coordinate attacks to assure efficiency. It is best to hold for the Astartes' main attack and to then use the weight of the attack to hit the cracks in their defenses. We will single out major strongpoints and objectives and I'll leave it to you on how to remove them. Simply stay synced with my beacon and I'll update you with time."
"Don't you try to command my forces for me, now."
"I wouldn't think of it. We just need some leverage."
"Alright then. Syncing. Will talk later."

Selhiat then went to his own troops.
"Sel to Maenlianar."
There was a standstill on the radio...
After a moment, "Maenlianar reporting."
"What's our forces' combat effectiveness, including the Iyandi?"
"Just finished re-arming, though we haven't had much of a chance to relax."
"Exchange what troops you can with those resting at the Isle and ready at the Nexus for redeployment with the Iyandi. Ready grav-tanks, aspect shrines and wraith units for a four-battalion scale engagement. We will probably have to go big soon. How long will that take?"
"I estimate a subcycle."
"Acknowledged, now where is Biel-Tan?"
"Lissia grows tired of waiting. I am unsure why you chose to ask the Biel-Tani to wait. You know they hate that the most."
"Someone had to monitor the defenses and the Iyandi was unconscious."
"Yes, but she is growing very restless. I advise contacting her."
"Fine. One more thing, Maenlianar; notify the wayseers to disable the Saim-Hanni gate until requested otherwise. Chaos might have hold of it soon and we don't need them poking through."
"Will do."

"Sel to Lis-"
"Do you think you can have all the glory for yourself, Ulthwean?"
"What?"
"This isn't purely your operation, you can't set us by the sideline like this. Your assault will take too long and distract us from the objective. My forces are moving forward and we're pinning down the artifact before our foes can escape with it."
"Fine then, but the Astartes around it are going to slow you if you approach too quickly. I'm finalizing a truce with them, understood? Then you can have the mountain, but you're not leaving the Isle exposed, are you?"
"Absolutely not, all the craftworlds but Saim-Hann will still have significant forces left here and our Farseer Sihiria will be commanding."
Sel knew the Farseer of Biel-Tan was experienced in war and would do well on the defense, but he was still worried he would lose control of the situation with Lissia taking this new stance.
"So you're abandoning stopping the Orks?"
"They are of no concern. The artifact is why we are here, and I will not stand by as they take it from underneath us. We deploy within a subcycle."
"Understood, but do at least wait for the truce," he resigned.
"Good, and you have a subcycle to secure it."

He closed his comm beacon. Not as smooth as would be preferred, but at least it could still be managed.

"Any news on the ceasefire, Force Commander?"

With the Tyranid artillery coming to bare and preparing to fire, DeRojo signals for the phase of the plan to begin. To DeRojos Right flank, Heavy Plasma cannon begins to slowly charge. Out of nowhere, two Assault Angels Sanguine land just behind the artillery nids, knocking back, cleaving through and splattering with bolter and plasma fire a horde of lesser nids bringing up the rear of the Tyranid artilleries. In an instant, the assault marines are upon the Artillery nids, Tyranicus patris-boletus. 'Lumbering beasts!' shouts assault 2nd Lt. Wol'varius McLogan, 'Suck on the egg of the Imperium, may it become your burning enlightenment!!' With blinding speed, McLogan vaults the lumbering biovore and lodges a grenade within it's opening and jetisons away. The moment he and his brother are a few feet off the ground, heavy bolter fire eviscerates the Tyranids still recovering from the single blind grenade that Assault, 2ndLt. TayBare McMerlin, set off after they first landed. With dozens upon dozens of Tyranids falling to heavy bolter fire from Devastator Marine Praetor Trey'arch, the Assault marines were able to escape immediate retaliation from ground fire.

Signaling it's swarm to pull past it's location, away from the Biovore, Alpha began to take a step away as well. Until it heard the drums of a sound it had not heard for some time. 'Plasma', the single word flooded the creatures mind and in an instant, it figured out the plan; or at least the first part of it. Being unable to move left or right, the Alpha seized two smaller gaunts and held them in the direction of the Biovore; braced for impact. A mili-second later, the biovore, along with its' nesting spore mines, detonated. The explosion atomized the lesser nids still within it's immediate proximity and killed a few warriors whom were still feeling the effects of the blind grenades. However, most of the shock was contained within the Biovore its' self. All was not lost as that Biovore was completely destroyed from the inside out, an internal smoldering chasm of vaporized acid, stench and chitin shrapnel. Alpha was very wise to hold his ground and endure the explosion. Almost with scripted timing, a large blast of super charged Plasma landed a few meters away from Alpha, melting the Tyranids it landed on, eradicating the ones within a few feet of it's impact zone and knocking back other Tyranids a little further from the impact point.

Having targeted the spore mines in the vicinity, the heavy bolter fire began eliminating the explosive threat, using the lethal contents of the mines against the Tyranids whom sought to use them in the first place. 'Move!' DeRojo shouted, signalling for his Plasma Devastator, SgtMa. Hyeborn D'orn, to move from his position quickly. With the Alpha creature dropping the two dead gaunts and letting out a frightening call to arms. DeRojo begins to pull back. The trees would provide some cover from any encroaching spore mines or living ammo spat from Tyranid arms.

DeRojo views the world like a game of Chess. If all pieces are covered and you can stay ahead of your opponent by giving them what they want, you can predict them. You can become them. For this confrontation to which DeRojo knows that he has no chance of winning, he must follow this ideal to the "T". With his left flank guarded by Heavy bolter fire, he and D'orn begin to fall back. 'The assault marines will guard Trey'arch, remaining hidden until they are needed. Scout master Arturious Lancer is providing immediate sniper cover/recon over all of them. Dread, Octavius Antiquas should be well protected and preparing his second volley. 1stLt Razz Raja and Tech Marine Carter deCartel, have taken up flanking positions halfway between DeRojo's fall back point and Antiquas, to DeRojos right. After a moment, DeRojo and D'orn reach their secondary position outside of the outcropping of trees, an area of land with open dirt and no over trees. Wide enough for a large skirmish of hand to hand combat. A few large boulders litter the area and a few boulders is the location to which DeRojo and D'orn take up position. Now, Trey'arch is to DeRojo's Front left, still engaging the Tyranids. If Trouble manages to get close enough to Trey'arch, the Assault marines would land, tear the enemies apart and than together, they would pick Trey'arch up and closer to DeRojos position. 'There are too many, Cpt.' D'orn comments, 'We do not need to kill them all, we simply needed to buy time enough for our message to transmit and delay their tendril. They seek to create and/or feed the Hivefleet once it arrives. I do not know what all is happening but if these Tyranids are simply trying to send up a small amount of biomass than I think they are trying to do something out of necessity. Tyranids do not usually take appetizers; they go for the entire planet.. their behavior is strange and we need to engage them now to determine their state of mind.' D'orn merely glances at DeRojo with a look of bewilderment, 'Uh-hu' D'orn mutters with a hint of sarcasm, 'All I need to know is when to fire. I'll leave all of that vocal and mental diarrhea to you, Brother DeRojo'. Despite the difference between their tactics, DeRojo has won the respect of his squad. At that very moment, another beam of intense energy tore through the sky. It's impact connects with the Tendril and once again, energizes the matter until it violently erupts in a torrent of atomic energy. Biomass once again spilling in all directions. 'Now, now how will you react... my fiendish friend' DeRojo ponders to himself as he uses his bolter to rip through Tyranids whom dared attempt to flank his heavy bolter devastator. With the ground beneath DeRojo protected from subterranean assaults, DeRojo knows that his enemy must engage him head on. By working to keep the Tyranids busy within the trees, they can keep the eyes off of DeRojo's location, hindering their hive mind from correctly gauging their distance and using the remainder of it's biovores to lethal efficiency. If the Tyranids make any unsuspected move, DeRojo will know about them immediately...