Relief drop to the surface of Calderis, First day of the Aurelian Crusade

The Drop bays of the Armageddon were filled with hundreds of servitors chanting the Blessing of the Warrior and inspecting that everything was in order. Suddenly the search stopped, as the Magos in charge became satisfied with the condition of the chamber.
"Brothers, the orks want to take our worlds! Lets show those degenerates the wrath of the Emperor! Captain Thule and the Initiates are currently besieged by a large swarm of orks. We need to reinforce their position and drive the filth back!" Azarius called out, as Squad Tarkus boarded the Drop pod with him.
Tarkus, devout and disciplined, prayed to the God Emperor and soon all his brothers joined in as the Drop pod was readied for launch.

The acceleration hit them suddenly as the launch tube magnetically accelerated the Drop Pod and sent it blazing towards the surface of Calderis. The pod cut trough the atmosphere within seconds, and the motors kicked in the last second to slow down their landing.
The Drop pod still hit the ground with a speed that would have curshed anything inside to bloody jelly, except Astartes. The sides of the pod opened like the petals of a large seed, and the Marines stepped out into into the molten glass, their boots sinking into the sticky material impervious to its heat.

Their autosenes instantly took in the situation as the battle brothers formed up in less than a second and advanced towards the position of Captain Thule. "Orks, how can they breath in their own filthy stench?" exclaimed Vindictus. "Don't worry brother, they'll smell like barbeque soon enough! Nothing smells better than Promethium in the morning!" retorted Brother Caedus, who was considered a pyromaniac by anyone outside the Salamanders Chapter.
"Less talk, more killing!" growled Asmodeus, who took a dim view of any chatter. "Prepare Brothers, the Emperor will punish the orks for their sins" decreed Tarkus as the Marines marched in the valley towards the orks. The sides of the valley were unclimbable, so at least they had the orks confined in to the valley where they could not bring all their numbers to bear at them.

Over the vox Captain Thule was rallying the Scouts:"Scouts, stay in cover! Kill the orks that are in the open!" gunfire and static flooded the channel "Welcome Commander. This is Captain Davian Thule in command here on Calderis. We are battleing the orks that threaten this world. You have dropped right into the combat zone. I am north of you with several squads of our Initiates. We are under heavy fire and loosing control of our flanks. Move north and provide support." The marines redoubled their pace towards the enemy.

"By my fury they shall know the Emperor's name!" roared Azarius as the first greenskins came into sight. He drew Ardent Wrath and the disruption field crackled into life like bound lightning. These orks were almost completely feral, armed with only primitve weaponry. Most likely their more developed fellows pushed them back to act as a rearguard. Azarius charged, not wanting to waste bolter shells on these vermin.
The orks were surprised, but had courage. They tried to charge him, but they were too slow. He was upon them like the wrath of the Emperor Himself, his power sword slashing left and right, killing with every strike. A few orks managed to hit him, but their crude swords and axes bounced off his armour uselessly.

Azarius slashed left, opening up a greenskin from neck to groin, and punched another in the face with his left fist. The orks skull disintegrated like a melon hit by hammer, bone and brain fragments flying everywhere. He stabbed forward and impaled two orks at once, their flesh dissolving upon touching his blade.
Than he felt an impact upon his jetpack armour, stronger than rain but weaker than firearms. It took him a split second to figure it out. The orks were shooting arrows at him, which only managed to kill a few of their kin in the melee.

Brother Tarkus and his Tactical squad advanced and drew their knives. There was no sense in wasting ammunition. "For the Emperor!" shouted Tarkus as he crushed an orks skull with his boltgun, and simultaneously opened the neck of another with his knife. Julius kicked an ork in the groin and sent it crashing backwards into its kin.
Caedus was merrily stabbing orks and crushing necks with his other hand. Invictus slashed and stabbed, felling orks with every movement. He seemed unstoppable until a large Chainaxe almost decapitated him. Only his superhuman reflexes saved him, the gigantic chainaxe would have cut trough even Astartes neck armour and reinforced vertebrea instantly.

A nob, heavily armed and armoured, screaming "WAAAAAAGH!" charged into the melee. He must have come to investigate the disturbance, and suddenly Squad Tarkus was on the defence, manoevering away from the nob, bringing their bolters to bear.
However the nob was not only many times stronger, but also much faster than the ferals, and he grabbed Invistus by the neck and held him up, chainaxe raised high.

Tarkus aimed carefully and shot as fast as only Space Marines can. The orks hand exploded and the Chainaxe dropped. Invitus was slashing the orks other hand, trying to sever its tendons. Vincitus aimed his bolter and put a round trough the orks skull. Half of its head gone, but the nob still did not die instantly.
However its grip lessened, and Invictus slid free. He roared in hate and kicked the ork onto the ground and stomped repeatedly on its head. "Calm your zeal, brother!" Snapped Tarkus, as the marines finished off the few orks who escaped the wrath of Azarius.

The marines ran and turned to see the Scout training grounds, where Captain Thule was leading the Scouts in defense of an earthworks with a few turrets, killing orks with his heavy bolter. The orks here were not feral, but just as fierce. Shootas spat a torrent of lead, slowly but inexorably cracking the barricades apart, but the Scouts still held at the moment, but not for long. "The orks ahead of you are trying to outflank us, eleminate them!" ordered Captain Thule.

In a few seconds two hundred orks forgot all about flanking and charged screaming "WAAAAAAGH!" towards squad Tarkus. The marines took cover, more to hinder the charge of the orks than to hide from their weapon fire,a nd without a word being said, every marine except Caedus opened fire.
Ork heads and torsos exploded into mists of blood and gore as the Astartes laid down supressing fire with skill and accuracy as only Space marines could, killing with every shot. Heads popped, chests exploded as each of the bolter shells found their deadly mark .
Julius sent bolts of superheated plasma at the orks, sublimating three or four into gas and ash with every shot, keeping his rate of fire low not to overheat his gun.

Azarius leveled his bolt pistol and aimed, hitting a nob square in the forehead from a hundred meters. It topled and the orks around him lost some of their momentum. He fired again and again, exploding tusk filled faces into gory mess until his pistol ran dry.
He swiftly holstered it, and jumped out from cover, racing towards the orks. "Fury and Zeal!" He cried and parried a choppa wielding ork, cutting through the weapon and wielder with a flicker of his blade. He ducked the wild swing of the next ork and kicked its left knee into ruin, and stomped on its head as it fell. He lashed out in a great circular swing, cutting those greenskins apart who were trying to bring him to the ground with their numbers. He chopped off limbs, punched through chests and cleaved torsos in half.

The dark red blood of the orks turned the sand around him into mud, but he strode on relentlessly, shoota fire pinging off his armour. A greenskin fired a burna into the melee, killing a score of its fellows and burning off the Purity seals of Azarius's armour.
He charged straight to the Burna boy in fury, trampling down orks and crushing them into paste under his ceramite boots. The fool would pay for insulting him! He cut down any ork who dared to bar his way and shot out his left hand, gripping the burna's neck and crushing his spine.
He grasped the flamer from its hands as it fell, and triggered it at the orks around him. The orks caught fire and burned, and most them started rolling in the sand, trying to put out the fire. Azarius cut down those which danced wildly in pain with his swords and stamped on those which rolled on the ground, braking necks and backs with every kick.

As the orks neared the Tactical marines, Caedus opened up with his flamer. A huge cone of white hot fire spread forwards, incinerating more than fifty orks instantly. The blazing promethium struck to their flesh and reduced them to ashes in less than three seconds, melting their wargear and cooking off ammunition. The sudden inferno stopped the charge for a few seconds, more than enough time for the marines to shoot most of the orks in the head.

The way was clear towards the left flank of main ork force, at least five hundred strong. "Tactical advance Omega pattern, formation Purgatus!" ordered Tarkus and the Veteran brothers spread out into a speartip with Azarius taking point, followed by Caedus in the front.
The Astartes advanced, firing more accurately on the run than a human sniper would fire from cover.
Their boltguns were linked to their minds, weapon and warrior becoming one, a holy instrument of the Emperor's Retribution. Scores of orks fell, and slowly it dawned on the greenskins that they were under attack from two fronts. They replied with the mindless enthusiasm of their kind, some charging towards the new attackers while others continued towards the Scouts. Due to the peculiar nature of the WAAAGH, the orks did not lost any momentum, despite the haphazard change of tactics.

"I'ze gonna tear off ya ead ya umie skum!" roared a nob as it came straight towards Azarius, a power Claw snapping in its hand and its bolta kicking up the dirt near his feet. "Die, alien!" answered Azarius and met the power claw with his sword. Lethal energies danced around the blades as they collided, and both combatants staggered back a little from the impact.
Azarius stabbed forwards, but the ork swiped his blade away with its klaw. It tried to backhand him with the same move, but Azarius was faster and dodged the blow. He fainted right and slashed left, trying to confuse his opponent, but the nob was cunning and had nasty tricks of its own.
It parried his strike and tried to club him with its gun. Azarius tried to evade, but the blow still hit his shoulder pad, knocking him off his feet. The ork kicked sand on his helmet as he rolled clear and took something from his belt, gleefully unaware that it did not effect its autosenes. "Sleepy, iz ya humie? Got sumfink in ya eyez?" it chuckled, trying to grab him with his deadly claws.
Azarius sprang to his feet and thrust his blade into the orks weapon, and the ork trapped the blade of his power swords in its power claw, immobilizing his sword arm, but leaving its body wide open. Azarius threw the combat knife he grabbed while rolling, and the ork's bravado became a gurgle as the blade punched through its neck and vertebrae.

Tarkus shot his last shell and an ork with a burna exploaded. He changed magazine in a second, and looked around, taking in the whole fight instantly. The orks had become less focused as the nob leading them fell, but he could already see other big ones trying to rally the smaller ones.
He silently thanked the Emperor that the greenskin officers were at least a head taller than their underlings. It helped so much when it came to shooting them in the head.
His brothers were killing orks with a gratifying speed, and the scouts could now held their own against the orks threatening them.
Invictus was still furious at the orks, his hate only growing as he killed. A spray of shots from a big shoota pierced the joint of Vindictus's left arm. The wound was not serius, and the marine was more concerned about the orks' stench getting in his armour, if his cursing of the greenskins was any indication. Asmodeus was chanting the litanies of Alien Slaying as he shot them to death, giving praises to the Emperor for giving him such a righteous duty.
Julius had to holster his plasma gun, and now he was stabbing and hacking the orks with his knife and a borrowed choppa. Caedus was merry, because the ork mass was the best enviroment for his beloved flamer. He killed dozens with each burst and the ork horde was melting like snow in boiling oil.

Captain Thule fired disciplined volleys of heavy bolter shells into the orks, careful not to hit any marine in the dense fighting. The morale of the orks was diminishing rapidly, and the orks started yelling "Letz get outta ere! Leg it!". Suddenly the remains of the mob were retreating, but that suited the Captain fine. There was no way they could outrun bolter shells, and in five seconds every one of them was dead.
"Well fought, commander, but the greenskins will not give us much time before they attack again! I need you and Sergeant Tarkus to take charge of driving the orks back. Move up to the ruins east of here and prepare to repel the next ork wave!

The brothers formed up into the spearhead again and quickly reached the ruined walls. The valley turned to the left where a mine entrance had been taken by orks. The marines heard the roaring sound of ork vehicle engines and a truck suddenly burst through the metal fence and an ork manning a nasty looking kustom shoota opened fire.
"Ork vehicle! Stay in cover, that truck has a heavy gun!". A smaller wave of a dozen orks jumped off it, only to be cut down by the marines' bolter fire. "More shooting, less dying you gitz!" shouted a cyborg mek from the trukk with oddly accurate Gothic. Tarkus snapped a shot at the leader, but a force field shimmered into existence and his bolt exploded harmlessly. Julius fired his plasma gun and melted most of the rear troop compartement, unfortunatly not cooking off anything.
"Blaaargh! Go get me some more boyz! And theze humiez has spooken up me trukk! back through da tunnel!" The ork driver desperately reversed the trukk and sped towards the cave entrance of the mine crushing any of its fellows that got in the way.

A hundred and some fifty strong ork mob started charging towards the marines shouting "Get em boyz! Shoot, chop, shoot, chop!" and similar warcries, uncaring of how many orks already died at the enemy's hand. "Microgrenades!" called Tarkus, and all Tactical marines instantly took two small egg shaped frag grenades from their dispensers. They set them to one second and threw them at the orks with their superhuman strenght.
The frag microgrenades were designed against light infantry, and each shredded at least five orks with their monomolecular sharp fragments.
Half of the orks died or were incapacitated, and the Marines concentrated their fire on those which escaped the grenades.
Azarius emerged from cover and killed any ork that came too close, and in seconds only the orks groaning on the ground with limbs missing were alive, and the marines butchered them with their knives, having no mercy because they knew none.

"Well done, commander." came the voice of Captain Thule over the vox. "Those orks have opened a way through the hills somehow. Move forward and seal it!"
The strike force advanced once more and the cave entrance came into view "More orks, and lots of cover to use on our approach!" stated Tarkus, and the marines quickly moved into cover, spraying the orks with controlled bursts of bolter fire. "Its almost like Fistmas! My mother always took me to heretic burning on holidays." quipped Caedus as he unleashed another wave of flames towards the orks. They were pressed together in the confined area and provided the ideal target for him.
"Keep the vox clear." reminded him Tarkus, although he could agree with him that this was satisfying. The orks were almost making it too easy, but it never payed to underestimate your enemy. Another wave of thirty orks appeared from the left, and Azarius ran towards them with full speed. "Come and die on my blade!" he roared as he charged.

He smashed into the greenskins with his sword cleaving a mighty arc before him, felling five orks instantly. Azarius cut his way through the greenskins without slowing down, smashing crates apart and crushing orks underfoot.
Suddenly heavy shootas poked out of the windows of the nearby guard tower, and the orks inside opened fire with gleeful shouts of "DAKKA DAKKA!", uncaring whenever they hit the commander, or their own.

"Commander, the orks are using that tower to guard the facility. My squad can take them out with a grenade!" said Tarkus, and Azarius willed and his armor pinged "Yes" to the Sergeant.
Tarkus clipped a heavy Frag grenade from his belt, and threw it into the stubby tower. It flew unerring into a window in the middle, behind an ork gunner. After a split second the tower shattered into a pile of debris, spraying metal sharpnel and burned ork remains at the Astartes. Heavy frag grenades were fist sized high explosives, intended to take out most kinds of infantry.

"The greenskins are clearly using that mine as a passage, commander. Seal that entrance by any means necessary!" came the order of Captain Thule, who was observing the progress through the relayed data from the sensors of the Armageddon. "The orks have stacked fuel and ordenance in the cave mouth, Commander. A few krak microgrenades will bring it down." proposed Tarkus, and Azarius nodded.

Krak microgrenades were useful against light vehicles and heavy infantry, but they were equally good at blowing up rocks and ammunition. Every marine took out two from their dispensers, and hurled them into the cavemouth in a wide spread, and took cover.
The grenades detonated all at once and the ammunition followed instantly, causing the whole area to shudder like a small earthquake.
The walls of the entrance cracked, and the whole top of the cavern came crashing down, sealing the tunnel for good.

"Good work, Space Marines. The greenskins will not be using that passage any time soon." said Captain Thule.
"But the leader managed to escape through the tunnel before we could kill him! That was our chance to cut this invasion off at the head." pointed out Tarkus.
"He will show himself again, Tarkus. And when he does, we shall be ready! Thunderhawks are on route, prepare for extraction!" Captain Thule was pleased that the Initiates survived, and the escape of one lousy greenskin could not spoil the death of hundreds of others.

As the Astartes waited for battle, Tarkus lead them in prayer to thank Him on Earth. Although the Blood Ravens did not held the Emperor as the omnipotent and distant god he was viewed by the mortal humans of the Imperium, they did not deny his divinity either. While the Emperor was a being of divine power more than equal of any other god, he was also the greatest and most shining example of Mankind, a person perfect in every aspect and deed.
The Blood Ravens prayed to their ancestral and divine father, asking him to give them strength to defend their recruiting worlds so they might continue saving Humanity in the millenia to come in His Holy Name.