yep
so second story
cuz i didn't know how to continue the first one.
so please feel free to comment on what i need to improve and stuff
and with that enjoy the story!
“All ships forward, engage the ork fleet.” Ordered Admiral Victus.
There was a surge of motion as Battlefleet Zeus moved towards the conglomeration of ork ships and roks. There was a grim silence as the fleet moved towards battle.
“Contact! Contact! All broadsides open fire!” chattered the vox, the sound of hundreds of command began to take its toll on the network.
The Apocalypse class battle ship Praetorian shook as the beams of energy shot out from the starboard side, striking an ork kill kroozer and punching several molten holes in the hull.
Hundreds of explosions dotted the pict screen as casualty reports began to pour in.
“Sir! Signatures detected behind Danae!” reported Lieutenant Aera.
“How many?” shot back Victus.
“Ten… no wait fifty- a hundred – sir there’s an entire ork Battlefleet behind the moon!”
“Then I hope those Astartes vessels make it in time.” Replied Victus.
Victus thought for a moment and was temporarily distracted when the ship was rocked again by the discharge of another lance salvo.
“I want all ships into phalanx! Troop carriers in the center, battle cruisers up front with me! We need to hold the line until the Space Marines can arrive!”
The fleet slowly dragged itself into position and formed around the carriers as the full fury of two ork battlefleets smashed into them.
Dull explosion rang throughout the Praetorian as kustomized macrocannons of an ork kill kroozer slammed into the void shields of the battleship.
“Close the phalanx! I don’t want a single chip of paint off of the troop carriers!” growled Victus.
Thousands of blips filled the auspex as boarding torpedoes accelerated towards the imperial ships. The lance batteries and macrocannons reaped a massive toll in orkish lives as they destroyed several hundred torpedoes but most managed to get through and slam into the hull of the Praetorian and its surrounding battle cruisers.
“Hull breaches on levels four, eight and nine!” warned the Lieutenant. Aera felt a sharp pain in his jaw as he finished speaking.
No! Not now…
“Parius deal with it.” Victus motioned towards the Sergeant-At-Arms. Jonah revved his chainsword while heading towards the elevator.
-----
He arrive at the fourth floor while the others were dealt with by other Guardsmen. As Parius stepped from the elevator a bolt shell detonated on the wall behind him.
He rolled to cover as several orks rounded the corner wielding crude pistols and knives.
“WAAAAAAAGH!”
Jonah sighed as he spun around the corner and immediately drove his chainsword into the neck of an ork, sawing through thick muscle and bone killing it instantly, the ork dropped as more stepped past its dead body.
He followed up with a lunge into the face of a roaring greenskin making a mess of its skull and spraying ork brains everywhere.
As adrenaline coursed through his system as he felt everything move in slow motion. He saw the individual flecks of saliva spew forth from the maw of an ork as it ran towards him. He lost focus for a moment and realized too late the xenos was upon him.
As he was pulling back the chainsword an ork charged at him with a choppa that managed to bite deep into his leg, fortunately the xenos paid with its life after Jonah returned the favor by severing its spine.
He twirled and slashed in a sort of elegant blade waltz, ork blood soaked the floor as xenos after xenos fell to his chainsword.
A particularly large ork charged towards him wielding an axe easily twice the size of those of his comrades and armored in crude pieces of metal bolted to its body.
Parius hopped to the side as the choppa slammed into the floor of the ship and drove his chainsword towards the greenskin’s legs. The teeth of his weapon skittered harmlessly against the plates of metal while the ork extracted his weapon from the gouge in the hull. The xenos lumbered around and struck the Sergeant with a heavy blow from his choppa.
Jonah grimaced as he parried the ork’s axe with his chainsword, the force of the blow knocking several of the teeth off his weapon and as his entire body shook with the effort of holding back the ork’s prodigious strength. He rolled to his right while slashing at the unprotected ankle of the ork, causing it to roar in pain as the sword bit deep into the flesh and bone.
With the ork temporarily distracted he spun behind and slashed its neck, opening a gaping wound that was followed by another slash to end the greenskin’s life. It toppled forward no longer having control of its limbs and died several seconds later.
He dropped to one knee and leaned on his chainsword after it fell. The adrenaline wore off and he winced as he tested his injured leg. He was covered in blood; both xenos and his own, as he limped his way back to the bridge.
-----
Victus rubbed his temples as he surveyed the situation before him: They were outnumbered two to one. They may a have chance should the Astartes fleet arrive in time before they were obliterated. He sighed and checked the status reports. Several battle cruisers had already been destroyed or critically damaged beyond operation while the troop carriers were beginning to feel the heat. The skill of the Imperial Captains were being outstripped by sheer numbers.
Victus was deep in thought when the door slid open and someone stumbled, everyone turned toward the source of the noise to find Parius covered in ork blood and a deep gash in his thigh as he fell to the floor.
“Medic!” called Aera,
An Imperial Guard Medic and a Servitor rushed to Parius and carried him away to treat his injuries as the crew returned to their tasks.
“Did the other teams get rid of the orks? Inquired Victus
“Yes sir, they’re just sealing the breached areas, three casualties, five wounded.” Replied Aera.
Victus nodded as he redirected his attention to a pict-capture of an especially large ork ship that seemed to bear more weapons than a ship of that size could possibly support. A crudely painted ork skull with crossbones and an axe. The letters GITCRUSHA were smeared on a side of the ship.
“Orktholomew…” Victus muttered.
Victus eyes lit up as he constructed a plan,
“Get me on the vox with the Traxieus and Maikairius .”
-----
Lord General Foresh Zangairius strode the city walls of Iliad, checking the state of the men and turrets. The soldiers on guard quickly gave him salutes before returning their eyes to the horizon.
A woman in the red robes of the Adeptus Mechanicus glided quietly behind. Sporting several mechandrites that were folded to her back.
“Magos Castella, how many turrets are operational?”
“32%, targeting cogitators damaged on 95% of remaining turrets.” She replied, her vox cords giving her voice an overarching metallic tone that was always there when she spoke.
“Can we repair any of them?”
“No” she stated flatly, “I do not have the replacement parts required for such an operation.”
“Besides” she motioned towards the spent shells lying near an autocannon, “we don’t have much ammunition left.”
Zangairius swept his eyes across the battlefield.
The burned husks of ork and imperial vehicles lay on the broken ground, dotted by craters from high explosive munitions. The bodies of previous battles still lay where they fell.
Zangairius looked towards the sky and saw pinpoints of red and orange as the fleets battled.
“Sir, the orks are up to something.” Piped a Guardsman, “I think you should take a look.”
He took the pair of binoculars from the Guardsman and saw the orks preparing their weapons and vehicles.
“Sound the alarm, the orks are going to make another attack.”
“Yes s-“the Guardsman was interrupted by a series of deafening explosions.
The detonations threw up several large clouds of dust that obscured Zangairius’ vision.
He coughed and waved in an effort to clear the dust.
After it dissipated Foresh checked the state of the orks and saw what looked like a ten foot tall ork clad in a crude exo skeleton painted a bright green gray camouflage pattern suddenly leap up from a hidden trench in the ground to utter a loud WAAAAAGH!
The orks from the camp immediately sprinted for the openings in the walls while the more privileged ones hopped on their vehicles and sped in the same direction.
Several twin linked heavy bolters turrets turned to the tsunami of orks and began firing, the explosive rounds tore into the bodies of hundreds of xenos.
This did nothing to deter the others as they sprinted over the bodies of their fallen comrades, brandishing crude guns and axes. The orks charged towards the collapsed sections of the wall as Guardsmen desperately attempted to block the gaps with whatever they could.
Castella appeared beside him with two huscarl skitarii guards armed to the teeth with bolters, melta guns and plasma rifles and armored with heavy plates of adamantium.
“I’ll deal with the main breach” Zangairius said while drawing his power saber, “You go tend to the turrets and hide somewhere.”
Castella cast him an annoyed glance and headed towards another shattered part of the wall.
Veriux arrived to see the Guardsmen just barely holding back the tide of orks, las gun fire spewing death towards the greenskins. The orks that fell at the makeshift barrier began to create a ramp for the others, threatening to spill over into the streets of Iliad.
Castella and the skitarii remained above the carnage as they began to rain bolter shells, melta and plasma fire on the greenskins below. The projectiles tore and melted the flesh of the orks and killed several of them before the xenos realized what was happening.
They turned their attentions to Castella and began to spray bullets in her direction. The huscarls instantly shifted together to protect the Magos. The rounds pinged harmlessly against the adamantium plates.
The Magos carefully placed a las pistol shot and split open the skull of an ork while its comrades were being cut down by the las guns of the Guardsmen. It seemed like greenskins were being pushed back but a killa kan barged its way into the front soaking up the las beams with no effect.
The crude missile launcher mounted on its shoulder blew away the barrier and the greenskins rushed towards the entrance.
Before they could do so they were cut down from the hail of fire from Castella and her huscarls. The killa kan immediately switched its attention to the three figures standing atop the wall.
It let loose a volley of shells from its twin linked shootas, accuracy was rendered redundant by the number of bullets it fired, taking a mechandrite off of a huscarl.
The melta and plasma guns of the skitarii quickly melted through the armored shell of the crude dreadnought and destroyed most of the primitive circuitry of the kan.
The gretchin inside panicked as it lost control, the machine swung uncontrollably into the mass of orks and smashed several greenskins into a paste before finally coming to a halt.
The xenos still rushed into the hole the kan made in a mad attempt to penetrate the defenses of the city.
The orks fell upon the Imperial with axes and pistols. The Guardsmen were no match against the xenos in close combat and Veriux was reluctant to fire into the orks for fear of hitting the Guardsmen.
Just as it seemed when the line was about to collapse a figure leapt impossibly high into the air from the center of the city and struck the ground with a massive explosion knocking everyone off their feet and throwing up clouds of dust.
The person sprinted through the mist of dirt and an ork was cut in half, the greenskin’s face frozen in a roar as it fell to the ground. The figure flashed back and forth across the ork lines and soon several xenos met the same fate as the first.
Yet even with the stranger’s assistance the green tide could not be stemmed, the guardsmen were being slaughtered entire squads at a time. Castella hoped that Zangairius was faring better.
-----
“Hold the line you mongrels!” shouted Foresh in the process of dislodging his saber from the skull of an ork.
“We’re being overrun!” wailed a Guardsmen, the man attempted run to the citadel but was caught by a bolt round in the skull.
Regimental Commissar Ramiel Odinfoot stepped forward from the Guardsman’s fallen body,
“If you will not serve in battle then you will serve in the firing line.”
The Guardsmen surrounding the body of their fallen comrade began firing far faster in an attempt to show the Commissar they had no intention of retreating.
“Where are the heavy weapons teams?” yelled Odinfoot swiping his powerfist alongside the Lord General.
“There!” Zangairius replied motioning towards a smoking crater.
The commissar growled as he ripped the arm off an ork and followed up with shot from his bolt pistol to the rib cage, spilling the xenos’ organs on to the ground.
There was a scream as a bolt shell caught itself in the chest of a guardsmen, splattering his squad mates with visceral remains.
“We can’t hold them much longer!” roared Zangairius swiping his power saber at the stomach of a greenskin.
Ramiel said nothing as he parried a strike aimed to disembowel him.
There was a loud explosion that emanated from another breach.
“Damned Magos better not have done anything stupid…” Zangairius muttered,
The Lord General finished off the ork in front of him as a loud WAAAAAAGH! drew his attention. He turned his head and saw several orks attempting to make a suicidal dash for the barrier. Tens of las beams met them head on and all but one ork was killed.
The one that made it was carrying several stikkbombs and managed to rupture a hole in the barricade.
“Damned orks…” growled Odinfoot as he and Zangairius ran towards the mouth of the bulwark made by the explosion.
The Commissar and Lord General stood shoulder to shoulder as the mass of xenos slammed against them.
“Come get it you bastards!” shouted Ramiel as he plunged his power fist into the throat of an ork and pulverizing its trachea.
Las beams flashed around them as they struck orkish armor to little effect,
“I hope the damned battle fleet makes it in time!” yelled Zangairius,
“That makes two of us!” barked Odinfoot.
-----
Light reflected off the black-grey metal of Inquisitor Artimec’s Aegis power armor while heavy footsteps echoed in the empty halls of the Praetorian as he walked to the bridge.
The door slid open to reveal the Techpriest Enginseer Xeros and Admiral Victus clad in master crafted carapace armor and a power sword tucked into a sheath. The pair surrounded a holographic table.
Icarus noted something was disturbing his psychic wards, he made a mental note to investigate.
“Inquisitor! I’m glad you could join us.” Said the Admiral as he tapped several symbols on a pict screen.
Icarus nodded and joined them as Victus continued explaining his plan.
“We need to take out the ork battleship. The Traxieus and Maikairius will escort us to it.”
The Enginseer interrupted with suppressed annoyance, “The battle cruisers can’t sustain that much trauma.”
“I know, this is why the Praetorian will continue the journey after they are destroyed.”
The Xeros’s eyes nearly bulged out of his head as he barely constrained his fury at such as suggestion.
“Are you insane?! This is an Apocalypse class battleship! Do you have any idea what archeotech this contains?! This is heresy against the Omnissiah!”
Victus’ reply was just as furious, “I will not sacrifice the entire battle fleet for the delayed destruction of three ships!”
The Techpriest said nothing as he glared at Victus with hatred smoldering in his eyes.
“Besides” Victus continued, “The Praetorian’s void shields should be strong enough sustain the guns of the ork battleships.”
Icarus spoke up to break the tension,
“What will be doing once we reach the battleship?”
The admiral cleared his throat as he proceeded, “We’re going to bombard the battleship at point blank range with our port side lance batteries.”
The Inquisitor nodded, content with the answer.
“Any questions?” Victus asked, he was met with silence.
“Good, no more delays.”
“Aera, Get me a vox link with Captain Veria and Captain Morias.”
The bridge was filled with the sound of explosions and static, but the voices of the captains could be heard.
“Captains, I am about to ask you to commit the entirety of your ship and all her crew, for the Imperium.”
With no hesitation the Captains replied,
“Of course sir, what would you have us do?”
“I need you to escort the Praetorian to the ork battleship. We’re going to behead the ork fleet.”
Dual affirmatives answered Victus as the cruisers moved from the phalanx to join alongside the battleship.
Xeros stormed away from the bridge and made his way towards his quarters.
I won’t let this defilement of the machine god happen.
Victus paid the Techpriest no heed as he turned his attention to the attack.
The three ships advanced towards the ork armada, the void shields absorbing the barrage the orks dealt.
The humans returned in kind with Mechanicus blessed lance batteries and macrocannons. The machine spirits within the targeting cogitators carefully calculated optimized firing solutions to destroy the orks with righteous fury.
Progress was steady as the battle cruisers took the brunt of the blow but their void shields sustained heavy damage.
“ Void shields down! Hull integrity degrading! All hands to the savior pods-“the vox was cut short the instant a fireball erupted to the left of the Praetorian.
“The Traxieus is gone sir.” Reported Aera.
Victus mourned silently for the lost ship and crew as he closed his eyes for a moment.
“And the Maikairius ?”
“Void shields are holding at fifty percent, lance batteries disabled, enginarium running at thirty percent operational capacity.”
“Can they retreat in time?”
“No, they’ll be destroyed before they can get to the phalanx.”
Victus sighed before speaking,
“Their sacrifice shall be honored in the coming victory. Press the advance.”
The two massive warships lumbered forward, dotted in explosions held back by their shields.
The phalanx was far behind them as they progressed towards the ork battleship, broadsides coughing fiery death towards the ork ships.
The Admiral watched through a pict screen as the void shields of the Maikairius finally gave way and the hull was punctured by kustomized lance batteries and macrocannons. In its last dying moment the Maikairius fired its savior pods towards the orks and shot its macrocannons.
The pods smashed into several ships and detonated moments afterwards.
Tenacious bastards, Victus grinned, filled their only escape with melta charges.
The battle cruiser was finally silenced as a macrocannon round damaged their enginarium. engulfing the ship and everything surrounding it in a storm of plasma.
The maelstrom briefly smothered the Praetorian before blinking out of existence, leaving behind the cold remnants of the Maikairius and the bodies of the crew that serviced her.
“Sir! Ork battleship Gitcrusha within range!” informed Aera.
“Starboard broadside open fire!” commanded Victus.
The order was met with a loud rumble and everything went dark. A few seconds later the lights flickered back on and the injured grinding of the engines could be heard.
A cry of pain sounded from the Lieutenant. His hands slid from the terminal as he clutched at his jaw as he squirmed in pain.
Victus prepared to call the medic but before he could do so the door slid open to reveal Techpriest Xeros panting as he jogged towards Victus.
“Admiral the weapon systems have been disabled by an orkish pulse mine.”
"Strange, our auspex detected nothing."
"It must have been cloaked in some way."
“Hm, the void shields still seem to be active.”
“Yes, I believe it was tailored to neutralize our weapon systems only.”
“Then the only way we can destroy the ship is from inside….”
“What? We should retreat while we can!” Xeros exclaimed in surprise,
“Xeros” Victus whipped around to face the Techpriest, his gaze drilling deep into the bionic eyes of the Enginseer, “I have just lost two of my best captains and their ships along with their crew, and I’ll be damned if I let anymore join them!”
“I propose we take a boarding party to detonate the Gitcrusha’s enginarium.” Spoke a voice from the shadows, the eight foot tall Inquisitor stepped forward.
Again he noted the same feeling from before, it disappeared as quickly as it came.
“How? We don’t have any idea where it is located.” protested Xeros
“Auspex paints it as heavily customized Retribution class battleship, the enginarium should still be in the original location.” Replied Icarus,
Victus interrupted, “Then we must depart with all due haste. Get Parius to the hangar; I’m going as well.”
“You’ll be needed here Admiral.”
“If we don’t succeed in destroying that battleship the entire fleet will be destroyed. Besides-“he drew his power sword and maneuvered it into the small gap between Icarus’ helmet and chest plate in less than a second. “It’s good to practice fighting now and again.”
Icarus shook his head as his helm hid a small grin while they made their way to the hangar.
Lore will be explained in later chapters.
Thx for reading!