WARNING: Spoilers for No Surrender.
Alpha Squad waits at the terminus of the docking arm they helped capture as landing ships approach the star fort. Lieutenant Nishikin of the Void Shrikes responds to the first reports from the front lines of their defense with sending reinforcements. Eager for battle, Harmon tries to convince the Lady Commissar to join the fight, but she says to stay put as ordered. Suddenly, one of the weapon emplacements on the docking arm roars to life, opening fire on the slow-moving shuttles! One of the ships is destroyed before it can even land. Somehow, the rebels have gotten control of a weapon emplacement far behind the defensive line.
Nishikin calls up Alpha and asks Lady Cedercreuz to get to the firing cannon and reclaim it for the Imperium. The troopers run down the docking arm and are directed to the firing emplacement by another squad. A panicked Void Shrike trooper comes running past, screaming that the Severan Dominate forces have a Stormlord super-heavy tank. Lady Cedercreuz calmly stops the soldier and gets him to see reason and head back to the defensive line to do his duty.
Alpha checks the room where the cannon is located and are shocked to see an entire platoon of traitors are guarding it as a squad aims and fires it at Imperial vessels. Lady Cedercreuz calls on Solon to act as runner and get word to the nearest vox set about the situation so they can get much needed reinforcement. She deduces that the void-suited enemy had managed to get past their defenses by walking on the exterior hull of the docking arm and ambushing the small Guard force protecting the cannon.
Some minutes pass and Solon returns with a mere two squads - twenty troopers - to aid Alpha. Realizing that waiting any longer will mean many more lost comrades, the troopers heroically assault the emplacement despite being outnumbered 5 to 1.
Harmon Yorke leads the charge by firing his jump jets and landing on a catwalk near the ceiling of the room. He hoses down enemy positions with his heavy flamer, the promethium stream sending many traitors screaming to their reward. Harmon survives numerous hits from lasguns and even rifle-butts as he holds his position up in the rafters. Father Angelos rushes out to another catwalk, his hand flamer cutting down another squad, but he is hit by volleys of lasgun fire that sear off one of his ears and shatter his right arm. The Ministorum Priest collapses unconscious as a result of these wounds. Lady Cedercreuz gives commands to the brave troopers from the doorway as they move under heavy fire from the Dominate force, blowing away several enemy soldiers with her bolt pistol.
The first two squads of reinforcements are decimated, and a third arrives in the middle of the battle to help pick up the slack. The sacrifices are not in vain, however, as the heavy flamer and volleys of lasgun fire kill squad after squad of enemies. With their ranks broken and the cannon lost to Imperium, the last squad purposefully detonates an ammunition cache, blowing themselves up and doing minimal damage to the gun.
Solon returns and helps re-awaken the critically wounded Father Angelos. Enraged at the heretics who have attempted to surrender to the Imperial Guard forces, he makes two of the Severan Dominate survivors kneels and then messily slays them with his chainsword. The three others are taken by the Lady Commissar for interrogation back at the hangar bay while the reinforcing troopers hold the emplacement.
As they return to their position at the terminus of the docking arm, the squad hears the call go out for a last desperate measure to stop the Severan Dominate from advancing up the docking arm - the detonation of charges placed to cause depressurization. As the Void Shrikes and 1st Aerial Assault forces are all wearing their void suits, they tie down to fixtures and hold on as the explosions begin venting air out of the arm. The enemy force advancing behind the Stormlord tank is destroyed and the hangar bay is held.
Outside in the inky blackness of space, the Severan Dominate has scrambled dozens of fighters to strafe the middle rank of landers reaching the fort. The Void Shrikes are able to send some of their forces out onto the external sides of the docking arm and scatter the fighters with well-placed heavy weapons fire. Several landers are damaged or destroyed, but the majority of the reinforcements are able to safely make it to the terminus.
Lieutenant Nishikin and Lady Cedercreuz interrogate their rebel prisoners about the Dominate forces, learning that they are commanded by General Constantine, a veteran commander with connections to the Severus dynasty. Father Angelos is taken to rest on a cot at an aid station where the 1st Aerial Assault medicae work on his severe injuries. The commander of the Schola Progenia regiment arrives in one of the first reinforcement shuttles, accompanied by Company Commander Gregory Kulikov of the Void Shrikes.
Sergeant Kravos speaks to Alpha Squad for debriefing, asking them about the situation aboard the Vox Belli before it exploded and what Alpha did to save the gear on board. Lady Cedercreuz explains that there was simply no time to get the stores offloaded, focused as they were on getting their force through the airlock.
For the first time in several frantic, traumatic hours since the assault began, Alpha Squad has time to rest and re-equip their kit, meeting with Supply Officer Gaspar, who somehow survived the battle. Father Angelos is awarded the Medallion Crimson at the aid station for his heroism, and rumors circulate about the deeds of Alpha Squad. Promotions and further assignments undoubtedly await.