Chapter 4
Not one marine had fallen during the first wave of the orks' attack. More importantly, a marine sniper managed to take down the leading ork Nob, effectively delaying the next attack that would inevitably come.
"The orks were almost too well equipped," he thought when he remembered the arsenal with which the Xenos emerged from the woods, "somebody must be supplying them with weapons…"
As the Codex Astartes demanded, the valley was covered by two Predator tanks on each flank with the bulk of the marine forces between them. Two devastator squads and whirlwind artillery covered them from each side and behind.
The orks had retreated deeper into the mountain pass and effectively disappeared in the forest that grew in the mountain pass.
It was the perfect tactical position. The orks could only attack from one perfectly covered direction and as soon as they would emerge from the woods, would be cut down by marine fire.
Suddenly the captain noticed a figure that appeared in the distance from behind. It was one of the Special Operations marines…
Ezekiel stood stunned when he saw what once used to be an Imperial base. The walls were littered with corpses and each tower was covered in skulls… human skulls. They were hung down on ropes and even if the bright blue of the Imperial colours was still behind them, it was effectively cut off from view.
Bur what stunned the marines in the first place was what was all around the base. Thousnads upon thousands of poles were sticking out of the ground. Some were just plain poles, but others had a second one at the top to form giant crosses. On them, were impaled or crucified men, women and children. The gruesome sight of poles piercing men in their torso and coming out through their neck with hands still clutching at the pole were horrific.
Ezekiel remembered seeing impalement on a holo-recording of Chaos practices. Most of these people were probably still alive when the poles came out of their necks. The impalement was done so that it would miss all of the organs. As Ezekiel closed his eyes he could almost hear thousands of men, women and children screaming for many hours, until they died of pain or blood loss.
A giant tower, definitely not of Imperial make, rose atop the rest of the fortress. It looked very much like a hand protruding from the ground, its fist forming a sort of beacon.
As the marines took their first steps towards the base and got out in the open, the hand suddenly grew a bright red that blinded them. A fiery red orb in the centre of the fingered tower burned and screamed, alerting all of the heretics within miles and miles of the new threat.
Ezekiel and the other marines dived for cover as bolter fire rained upon them from the ramparts in the distance. He managed to count fourteen Chaos traitors during the second-long flight. He turned the dive into a roll and vanished in the woods.
"They are on their way to the base and should be arriving there any moment," the marine finished his report.
The look on Captain Maximus' face was dire. "Hail our Master Nimrod Grudge, he must be informed of these crucial developments in our struggle against Chaos!"
While a marine hailed the battle-barge in orbit, Maximus continued to bark out orders.
"Four squads will stay here and guard this mountain pass, we cannot afford to be attacked from behind as we strike the Chaos forces. Squads five to eight will do this. Everybody else… mount up!"
"Hail Sergeant Nicholas and inform him that backup is on the way and not to confront the Chao…" but he was cut off by a deafening scream.
Suddenly the sky turned red and screams replied from all directions.
"Oh Emperor…" Maximus froze. He then turned to the communications team. "Cancel that. Inform the High council and hail the Ultramarines. We have a code eight… Yes, I repeat, code eight! Prepare for evacuation and Exterminatus."
Marines stared at each other as hundreds upon hundreds of orks, cultists and lesser daemons emerged from all directions and charged.
Ezekiel, Txanton and Nicholas lay low in the bushes. The two other marines were cut down as they dove for cover.
"What was that?" Txanton said, with evident fear in his voice.
"Cut it together!" Ezekiel shouted for the second time that day. "Many marines have succumbed to fear and turned to Chaos in situations such as these and I wont hesitate if you show any more symptoms."
Nicholas nodded. "It's a summoning of Khorne!"
He stared into the distance silently.
"I witnessed one as such sixty years ago. Two chapters were wiped out that day…"
"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOOOOD!" A choral of voices screamed as a wave of traitorous Khorne Berzerkers ran from the base towards their location.
Marines fired in all directions as the monsters bore upon them. They had retreated to form a circle that slowly narrowed. Maximus himself was in the midst of the battle, taking down cultist after cultist, ork after ork, horror after horror, with his twin Nova Storm Plasma pistols.
The beasts neared and Maximus screamed the Harbingers war cry into the heat of the battle. "Purge the Heretics!" and he raised his super power sword into the air.
Marines responded and charged, melee weapons in hand, in all directions, beating the heretics back in the woods.
"Waaargh!" a giantly over-grown Ork Nob that emerged into sight screamed. Wave upon wave of lightly clad orks overwhelmed the marines, forcing them back again.
Maximus fought his way towards the Clan Boss, who noticed him immediately. He fired a salvaged twin bolter at the Captain's head. He managed to turn just in time, but the bullettore the skin off of the right side of his neck. Blood was rushing down and even his advanced marine healing wouldn't be enough to slow it down.
Not caring, he ran the last few meters, with is sword raised. "For the Imperium, for the Emperor!" his words rang above the battle as he rolled between the nobs legs and thrust the sword through his whole body. The nob continued to fire into the crowd with the sword deep insde his body. The Captain then sqeezed the hilt of his sword and a plasma discharge ran through the sword, shooting out in all directions.
The nob's eyes widened as his insides exploded and ripped through his whole body.
Captain Maximus pulled his sword out and made his way back to his marines, but the wound on his neck took over. His legs buckled and he fell to his knees. His head slumped down as he bowed before the Emperor, awaiting his judgement.
Suddenly the redness of the sky faded as a shadow was cast above the battlefield. Tens of drop pods landed all around the battlefield and countless marine squads emerged.
Marines cheered as not only a green, but also a blue Ultramarine battle-barge came soaring down. It rained fire at the enemies of the Imperium.
Still, they were outnumbered by the never-ending onslaught of orks and cultists.
"Evacuate the injured immediately!" a very familiar voice sounded. It was Marneus Calgar, the Chapter master of the Ultramarines, the greatest warrior of the Imperium!
"Now!" another familiar voice joined him. Nimrod Grunge of the Harbingers herded everyone back into the battle-barges, coming over personally to pick up Captain Maximus and carry him in through the giant door.
Moments later, the barges took off for orbit.
"Sergeant Nicholas… Ezekiel…" Maximus muttered before he passed out.
Calgar and Grunge exchanged looks, unsure of what the Captain meant.
The three marines lay in the stem of a giant fallen tree as countless Khorne Berzerkers passed by them.
"We have to return to the checkpoint!" Txanton's voice trembled.
Ezekiel gave him a cold look and almost reached for his blade.
"The mission is what matters!" he said quietly, but the boldness of his voice was still there. "We cannot allow the summoning to be finished."
Nicholas nudged both of them and pointed to the sky.
Two battle-barges were heading for orbit.
"They'll order the Exterminatus," he muttered. "but it will be too late. With Khorne in this dimension… Even redirecting a comet may not be enough!"
"We go in then," Ezekiel said. "Stop the summoning."
Calgar and Grunge sat as two apothecaries worked on Captain Maximus' wounds.
"I sent them to an abandoned Imperial base. I'm guessing that's where the first 'Scream of Khorne' came from," he bit his teeth as a wave of pain shot through his upper body. "Nicholas is one of our most experienced Sergeants and Ezekiel…"
"Ezekiel is well on his way to becoming the Chapter's greatest warrior," Grunge filled in.
"Even if they were dreadnaughts and had multiple terminator squads as backup, their chance for success would be next to none." Calgar was considered to be the greatest warrior and tactician of the Imperium and was very rarely wrong.
"You are right, we cannot rely upon them…" he said solemnly, "but neither can we be sure that anything we do from here will be enough, if the summoning succeeds."
The three men nodded.
"Ready the tractor beams…" Calgar said over the communications link. He soon got a reply and waited a few seconds before sentencing the planet to its doom. "Begin the Exterminatus."
"Emperor have mercy on their souls
