A hulking armored soldier swiftly sidestepped from his cover, exposing half of his body as he squeezed off a burst of bolter bullets. A exposed black armored soldier stumbled back as blood coursed through the hole on his armor. Seeing the Chaos marine fall down, the Blood Raven space marine rushed forward, his armored jumping behind a bullet ridden boulder for protection.
Noticing the space marine that pushed up, a Havoc squad turned the heavy bolter they were operating and unloaded the gun's powerful bolter rounds. The bullets pounded the rock with powerful bullets., slowly wearing down the cover. The space marine crouched, hearing the pieces of boulder bouncing off his armor. He readied to stand up, but as he stood, he ducked, hearing the whizzing overhead where he was.
A lightly armored space marine, Cyrus, looked over the rocky ground he was hiding . He raised his sniper rifle, noting the individual Chaos operating the gun. The scout sergeant let out a deep breath, and pulled the trigger once. The slight recoil pushed up his gun, but the bullet flew true. The heavy bolter ammo line sparked as the bullet punctured one of rounds, igniting a chain explosion. The heavy bolter blew apart, sending the rounds buried into the Iron Warriors operating the gun.
"Chapter Master." Cyrus spoke, shifting his rifle to a different targets. "There is an opening." He continued to fire single shots at the defending Iron Warriors officers, killing or seriously injuring his targets.
Gabriel Angelos nodded. He hefted his hammer, the God-Splitter, and charged forward. His iron halo flashed, projecting a barrier that blocked life threatening shots, while letting his armor absorbed the less fatal shots.
Following him, several Space Marines moved quickly over the rocky ground, igniting the jetpack attached to their backs. The assault marines moved like lightning, quickly igniting their jetpacks in bursts, sending them flying quickly over the short distance. Thaddeus, the assault marine sergeant and his Assault Marines, raised their assault pistols and let loose of all their ammo at the close. Then at the next moment, their jetpacks fired, and the Space Marines flew into the midst of the Chaos Space Marines.
A few steps behind, Gabriel Angelos smashed through the front lines, swinging his hammer as he cracked apart a Chas marine's helmet, and crush the skull underneath. The Assault marines landed a bit farther ahead, cracking the ground as they landed and sending the Chaos marines scattering to face the new threat.
Behind the Assault Marines, a space marine sergeant,Tarkus, stepped out of his cover and threw a grenade. His raised rifle spat out bolter rounds, piercing the weakened armor of a heretic, killing him and cutting into another chaos marine's armor, which drove him back into cover. "To me my men! Follow the Chapter Master!" Tarkus advanced forward, with all of his tactical marines following him and Gabriel Angelos into the breach.
The Iron Warriors defensive line buckled while the Blood Raven's beachhead expanding , as more Chaos marines fell. Seeing more of their soldiers fall, more and more Iron Warriors officers ordered the men to fall back. The more level headed ones retreated while firing back at the Blood Ravens. But several Iron Warriors screamed and threw their weapons aside. "Blood for the Blood God!" They charged forward, waving their axes as they screamed praises for Khorne, the Blood God.
They didn't last long. Gabriel Angelos, stepped forward and raised his hammer in ready. In a split second, he thrust his hammer's head forward, slamming into a berserker's gut, cracking the armor. As the enemy stumbled back, Gabriel followed through with a overhead hammer strike, cracking in the helmet and the skull. The Chaos warrior slumped down, its skull caved in with brian gore dripping away from the crushed helm. The next angry chaos warrior roared and was shot to pieces by several tactical marines, his armor torn into shreds by bolter fire. The other Chaos marines were destroyed in quick successions through bolter fire, chain sword or God Splitter.
"Forward brothers! The Chaos Warriors shall delay us no longer!" Gabriel Angelos rushed forward as he raised his hammer.
The entire Blood Raven force moved forward quickly. Passing cautiously through the defensive structures that the Iron Warriors have built over the past few days.
Some days ago, the Blood Ravens recieved warnings that the Iron Warriors have stolen valuable Blood Raven artifacts. Cyrus reported his findings to the Blood Raven's Chapter Master, finding several important Blood Raven artifacts in the hands of the Iron Warriors. Gabriel Angelos immediately called in the 3rd and 4th Company to retrieve the artifacts, rendezvous with them. The Iron Warriors had secretly set up a temporary base at the bottom of a mountain and stolen several Blood Raven artifacts from Meridian's previous governor's warehouse. With around 200 hundreds marines combined from two complete Space marine companies, several tanks and Thunderhawks support, the Blood Ravens were ready to take back what was theirs.
But the Iron Warriors were waiting for them. Deploying via drop pods, the Blood Ravens came under heavy fire as they were hit with light artillery, anti armor that took out several of their heavy armors which prevented any more tanks being deployed. The Iron Warriors air defense shot down some of the approaching supportive Thunderhawks and prevented the Blood Raven from having air support. Despite the setbacks, the Blood ravens landed and pushed on. After fighting several bloody hours, the Blood Ravens established a beachhead and pushed back the Iron Warriors. Pursuing them restlessly, the Blood Ravens never let the Iron Warriors form a defensive line, until they came upon the Chaos fortress. Reaching their base, the Chaos Warriors immediately formed a defensive line, and held the Blood Ravens at bay.
But as the Blood Angel warriors pushed forward with Gabriel Angelos's lead, the Iron Warriors fell back further, giving more ground. Taking the first defensive structure lines, the Blood Raven advanced at a quick pace climbing up the second line of defense. But as they quickly crested over defenses, they came under heavy gunfire, suppressing the Blood Raven, and killing many of the Space Marines.
"Take cover!" Tarkus fired off a few shots before jumping behind a sand dune, but not before a few bolter rounds damaged his armor. Beside him were two dead Space Marines, with their armors torn into pieces from the Iron Warriors defenses. Several more of his men were injured, as they were caught out in the open when they climbed over the wall. Tarkus cursed, and fired back at the enemy, ducking as a Havoc squad trained their gun on his position.
Gabriel Angelos dashed forward, slamming his shoulder into an Iron warrior before swinging his hammer in a wide arc. The hammer's head smashed against the enemy's his enemy collapsed, the Blood Raven chapter master glanced up to just see a rocket exploded in front of him. His iron halo flickered, blunting the explosion. Seeing him down, Chaos warriors immediately turned their weapons on him. Bullets bit into his armor, and his iron halo flickering but remained inactivated.
Despite the flashing pain from the bullets, Gabriel Angelos pushed forward, moving towards the Iron Warrior's entrenched position. Thaddeus raised his chainsword, "Follow the chapter master brothers!" His voice roared over the battle din, and the Assault Marines ignited their jump packs, leaping into the air. Two Havoc auto cannons swung up, trailing after the Assault Marines in mid air. But the Blood Raven marines were too fast, slamming into the two Havoc squads and tearing them apart before the Chaos marines could do anything. As the Assault Marines finished off the Havoc squads, enemy marines opened fired at the Assault Marines, pinning them.
Thule hefted his heavy bolter and fired off long burst, directing fire towards the Iron Warriors pinning down the Assault Marines, "Support our brothers!". Merdark, one of Thule's heavy specialists, raised his Cyclone Missile Launcher, locking his aiming reticle on his target, a squad of Iron Warriors slowly clumping up together as Tarkus squad forced them together with accurate burst fire. Merdark fired, the rocket streaking forward like a thunderbolt and exploded. The explosion tore apart two Chaos Warriors and threw back the remaining three Iron Warriors.
One of Tarkus space marine, Darick, popped out of cover while raising his bolter to fire a few shots, when a piercing bolt penetrated his torso. "Apothecary!" Tarkus reached out and pulled Darick behind the improvised cover, a improvised barricade made of scrap metals strong enough to hold back light fire arms.
Moving quickly, the Apothecary moved to the side of Tarkus, glancing at the wound of Darick, then used his Narthecium, the trademark tool of the Apothecary, administer medicine. The bullet wound quickly clotted up sealing up, while the regenerating tissue pushed out the bullet head.
"Apothecary!" Cyrus shouted, pulling one of his scouts into cover as bullets pinged around them. Blood dripped from a wound over the scout's stomach as the Cyrus placed a torn piece of his cape on the scout's wound. Grave, the Apothecary, finished his task, and looked up towards the voice. With the wound treated, he darted through makeshift metal barricades, moving towards Cyrus position and making sure not to be exposed.
Around him, Thaddeus swung his chain sword in a wide arc, trying to fend off the Chaos berserkers assailing him and his men. They were almost surrounded with their backs pressed against the wall to the point that a push would send the victim spiraling over the edge. Two of his assault marines lay on the ground with bullets holes laid all over their torso. Thaddeus cursed as he dodged his attackers. He was losing too much of his Space Marines, his brothers. Thaddeus ducked as he swung his chain sword upward, which cut through the upper part of the Chaos warrior's helmet, spilling out the brains. His remaining man stood by his side, firing his bolter pistol while holding his chain sword at ready.
Despite the fire support from Thule's heavy squad, Thaddeus and his squad were pinned. The other group of assault marines were down to one Space Marine while Thaddeus stood along side his assault marines. Then behind the enemy lines, one of the Chaos predator tanks lying in wait blew up, turning into a fiery fireball. The remaining two Chaos predator tanks tried to swing their turret around to bring fire on the attackers, before finding a few meta bombs attached to their rear.
The Iron Warriors watched in shocks as sniper shots and pinpoint tactical bolter fire cut down their backline support. Then jetpack roars sounded over the gunfight as nightly pitch black Assault marines landed among Havoc heavy weapon squads, backstabbing the Iron Warriors.
"Raven guards!" Thaddeus aimed his chainsword at a Chaos Warrior's leg, separating it from its owner. Gabriel Angelos looked up as he stepped past the blown up gate with a ring of Iron Warrior berserkers dead on his feet. Tactical marines baring the Raven guard symbol, open firing at the Iron Warriors with precise burst fire, with sniper shots taking down officers.
The leader of the Iron Warriors frowned as he watched the last line of defense fall apart with the more numerical Iron Warriors fighting desperately but were being crushed by the pincer attacks by the Raven guard and Blood Raven. He shooked his head and smiled. He was ordered by his commander to recover the artifacts that the Blood Raven hold so dear.
The Iron Warrior leader chuckled as he raised his bolter one handed. The weapon was affixed with scratches and dents and body parts were attached to the belt of the chaos warrior. Seeing the last of his men fall, he smiled and raised his chain ax on his other hand and roared. Charging forward, his first stroke was side stepped by a Raven Guard tactical marine who then received a face full of bolter rounds.
The Chaos Champion rushed forward as he used his shoulder to ram into another unfortunate tactical marine. As the space marine staggered back, the chain ax connected with the chi edge of the helmet and the champion swung up. The chain ax split the space marine's skull.
"Blood for the Blood God!" He shouted laughing as the blood dropped from the teeth of his ax. He turned, facing Gabriel Angelos. "Die Corpse Emperor follower!" He stepped forward and the whole Blood Raven and Raven Guard opened fired. Rounds pierced the Chaos champion body as the space marines poured in the fire.
As the last gun fell silent, their chambers empty, and the bullet cartridges littering the ground the Blood Ravens and Raven Guards quickly reloaded.
The Chaos champion smiled as the bullet holes remained open, his blood dripping from the entities but he remained standing. At most, he looked extremely elevated, and completely fine. He dropped his gun and raised his chain ax. "Blood for the blood god!" He dashed forward, moving at insane speed that was clearly gifted from Khorne, the blood god, to unleash a new river of blood drawn from the Space Marines. He swung his ax only to be blocked by a hammer shaft. Then his head met with God Splitter's face.
Gabriel Angelos looked down at the chaos champion lying on the ground, studying the man's face. He looked up to a closing sound of armored boots striking the ground, to see a Raven Guard Sergeant walking towards him as his men began to dispose the Iron Warriors bodies.
"Greeting Blood Raven Chapter Master." A Raven Guard Sergeant stepped forward, making the aquila sign over his chest.
Gabriel did the same sign, "Thank you for the assistance Sergeant. We didn't receive any word of your presence in this area. What brings you here Raven Guard Sergeant in this sector? As he spoke, he placed his hammer on his back, which then attached to the magnets.
"We were passing through the area and planning to stop for fuel at Meridian. We were told by the governor that the Iron Warriors were in the area and planning to stop for fuel at Meridian. We were told by the governor that the Iron Warriors were in the area for a few months already, and the Blood Ravens were in orbit over the planet." The Raven Guard sergeant quickly snapped off a few orders before turning his full attention again to the Chapter Master. "We saw that you were pinned down and deployed drop pods behind the mountain, then advanced as quickly as possible. Then as you have seen we attacked them from behind." The sergeant gestured to the direction where his force attacked.
Gabriel nodded. "Thank you for assistance Raven Guards. The Blood Ravens will remember this debt and so repay in the future." He reached out and shook hands with the sergeant.
"We must get going now Chapter Master if you don't are urgently needed elsewhere." The Raven Guard sergeant bowed, then gestured to his men. The small of Raven Guards, 10 men after suffering 2 dead and 0 wounded marched back to their drop pods after their Apothecary extracted the gene seed from the dead Raven Guards, and brought their bodies for honorable burial.
The Blood Ravens did the same and recovered their artifacts. The objects were tossed haphazardly on the floor, in the large storage unit that the Iron Warriors had.
The Blood Raven gathered their artifacts and dead, moving back to their battle barge. The Blood Ravens gained their victory, but there are more battles in the future as the darkness of the galaxy fall on the light of the Emperor.