Iron Lords
Chapter 1
Nolan was at the control room of the strike cruiser Iron Soul. The owner of the ship was the Iron Lords space marine chapter. The control room was filled with the red from the armor of the sacred techmarines from Mars. The room was painted in a plain, dull gray, filled with screens showing a large variety of the statistics. The captain was shouting the orders to the techmarines to fire at the enemy ships.
One of the screens shows blue and red beacons. Nolan supposed that the blue markers were allies and the red were enemies. Suddenly, a bright, yellow beam of lance fire grazed the strike cruiser. The lights were suddenly cut off for a few seconds, and it came back on again. The Iron Soul fired its lance at the enemy ship, hitting it directly at the hull of the ship. It exploded and debris flew everywhere, some entering the atmosphere of planet Vold.
Suddenly, there were a roar, and a red marker appeared right at the back of the Iron Soul.
"It's a space hulk!" a techmarine shouted.
"How did it flank us!?" the captain asked impatiently.
"It came out of nowhere!"
"Sir, the space hulk is charging up its lance!" another techmarine interrupted.
"All men get your helmet on and make way to the pods! Evacuate immediately!" the caption ordered through the vox.
As soon as the captain finished the line, the techmarines unstrapped themselves from the seat and start sprinting towards the drop pod hangar. Voices of dozens of people trying to speaking over each other on the vox channel were so loud that Nolan was forced to turn off his vox. The sound of footsteps could be heard all over the ship. Nolan arrived and saw a techmarine shouting orders.
"Cram in! Fit as much people inside the pods as possible! I don't care if you're packed so damned close to each other! Just make it quick!" ordered the techmarine.
Nolan ran inside a drop pod that was nearly full. The captain and a techmarine followed him inside swiftly. Soon, an apothecary crammed in as the tension rose. Another marine tried to cram in, but there was not enough space inside. The marine backed off and looked for another drop pod as there was a great rumbling. The marine toppled over and picked himself up. The lights went out, and were up again in a few seconds.
"Hull severely damaged! They're charging up again!" shouted the techmarine who was ordering the evacuees.
Nolan's drop pod closed and the drop pod was released. The captain turned on the camera upwards. Over them, dozens of drop pods were released as a lance fire pierced through the ship. It exploded, sending debris everywhere. A large piece of debris hit the last drop pod to be released, destroying it.
Nolan noticed that they were entering the atmosphere. The heat shield turned on, and the drop pod soon crashed into the ground. The hatches opened as the beautiful view of the planet came into sight. There were lots of vegetations. The general scent of the planet was different from the strike cruiser. They landed near a cliff, near a waterfall and Nolan realized that if the accuracy of the drop were bad, they would've landed right into water.
"Your name, brothers?" the captain asked.
"Hendarl Varl." said the apothecary.
"Helis Silverforge." said the techmarine.
"Nolan Grimdrake." bellowed Nolan.
Nolan did not pay attention to the other names. Instead, he went into the drop pod and strapped a storm bolter on his arm. He picked up a thunder hammer after that. It seems that this pod was armed for a terminator squad drop. The captain went inside and got a storm bolter strapped to his arm and a pair of lightning claws. The apothecary has already got his chainsword and a bolt pistol, and claimed to use them. The techmarine picked up a meltagun. Most of the remaining unarmed marines picked up a storm bolter, and used their chainswords, because they were not used to the chainfists. Some were stronger than the others, and picked up assaultcannons. Nolan felt that it was a shame to loot their battle-brother's gears, but on the other hand, he saw that they wouldn't need it anymore.
"Captain, I'll scout ahead and look out for any allies and enemies." said a scout.
"Understood. We only needed a brief one. Make it in ten minutes." replied the captain.
The scout moved into the woods and Nolan sat on a rock, checking the thunder hammer for malfunctions.
"You wouldn't need to check it." said Helis.
"Why is that so, brother?" Nolan asked.
"I checked it myself on the Iron Soul. It is in a great shape and ready for a bloodshed."
"I offer my thanks, brother."
Nolan fell on his back, staring into the blue sky. He saw drop pods descending and flashes above, indicating the heat of the battle in space. He got up on his feet and walked towards the captain.
"What is your name, captain?" Nolan asked.
"Huh? You don't even know your own company's captain?" the captain asked back, not in a mocking way.
"My apologies, captain."
"No need for apologies, brother. My name is Eelric Hogrow. That is why many people call me the iron hog."
"I see…"
Nolan saw the scout running back, with a wound on his shoulder.
"Captain!" the scout shouted.
"What is it!?" Hogrow questioned the scout.
"Greenskins! They're probably coming here to loot the parts."
"Are they approaching!?"
"Yes sir. It is my fault for leading them here."
"Let the apothecary tend your wounds." The captain turned away to talk to the other marines. "Greenskins approaching! Set up your weapons!"
"Yes captain!" The marines said.
"Looks like we're in the heat of the action as soon as we arrive, brother Nolan." said the techmarine.
"Yes brother and quite a bad one too." Nolan replied as he saw the silhouette of an ork walker approaching them.