The red lasbolts streaked past my face and scored marks upon the wall behind me. I cursed the name of the Traitors and saw Wolf Priest Skaldir firing his Bolt Pistol towards the oncoming fusilade with hate in his stance.

"Stand Wolf and fight! Zeal and Fury!"

I leapt from my feet and bounded over the low wall I crouched behind, charging the Traitor lines. The thud and clank of lasbolts careened off of my ceramite armor as I blazed ahead cutting down those foul representations of debased humanity in my way. To my rear I saw Wolf Priest Skaldir commanding Bjorn, Helfdane, Einar, and Erik into the fray as the Blood Claws came forward to reinforce the attack. I bashed a Traitor over his head with the pommel of my combat knife and skewered another in close proximity. I was then suddenly thrown from my feet by an explosion and noticed the Traitors brought up a warped Leman Russ tank. The sight of such a mockery of Father Russ' name sent me into a rage and I picked myself up and rushed headlong toward it. Another blast almost took me off my feet but was spared the blast by a clump of now misted Traitor Guard. Grabbing a grenade from my belt I clambered onto the side of the vehicle and started to force the hatch open, then threw the grenade down into the interior. Leaping off I bounded toward the hastily dug trenches firing my pistol wildly at the masses of writhing human treachery. A stab here, a stab there, blood dripping from my blade as I wade into the ranks of foul men. Screams of terror erupted from the lines on my right as the rest of the Blood Claws came up and started butchering their companions.

"Brother Wolf Ulfhedinn Panzerlied, hold a moment!"

Wolf Priest Skaldir ran up to me as I blasted a few more heretics trying to flee from the fury of the Vlka Fenryka.

"We have another mission and I require your assistance Wolf. Now follow me and leave these terrified dregs to the packs of Blood Claws."

"Yes Wolf Priest Skaldir, where, might I ask, have we been redirected?"

"A group of civilians have barricaded themselves inside of one of their holy buildings, we have been tasked, along with a pack of Blood Claws to pierce the Traitor lines and save them; or at least hold out until they can be evacuated."

"Why save those who cannot fight Wolf Priest?"

"They are not Fenrisian, they do not know the way of violence as we do. They indulge in their mortal failings and have become soft to the hardships of life. Now, no more questions, we go to save more of the Imperium's citizens, cowardly though they may be."

I along with a Blood Claw pack fell in behind him as we marched forth toward our objective. Bjorn, Erik, Einar, and Helfdane catch up to me and we begin to talk of our battles so far. Bjorn, boastful as ever, regales us with a tale of how he charged a trench full of Traitors and cut them all down to a man and managed to take out a heavy weapons emplacement. Helfdane laughs it away.

"Bjorn you couldn't hit the broadside of a battle cruiser, and you want to talk about prowess? Did you not witness Ulfhedinn Panzerlied expertly dispatch that abominable tank which defiled our Father's name? If I wanted prowess and an example of what to do, I'd look to him."

"Pah! Mere luck on his account, before he charged that trench on the orders of the Wolf Priest he was cowering behind some cover!" Bjorn spat back.

"Maybe perhaps Bjorn, it was because I don't plan on dying so soon. I have obligations to be a warrior for my Brothers and learn as much as I can about it; to one day pass on this knowledge to future initiates."

"By Russ! Ulfhedinn Panzerlied it was a jest, why do you have to be so serious all time?" Bjorn said.
"I know when to be merry and laugh with my Brothers, but I also know to focus on the tasks of warfare when they present themselves."

"Quiet now Wolves, we approach our goal so prepare yourselves." Wolf Priest Skaldir interrupted. "Helfdane scout ahead and find us a way in with least resistance."

"Affirmative Wolf Priest, moving in." Helfdane responded.

The rest of us moved closer to a ridge overlooking the rows of Traitor Guardsmen that formed lines of battle around the holy building. Every few moments a lasbolt or stubber round would spout out of a hastily made firing port from the building at the lines; and it was returned with a volley from the heretics. I slightly admired the resolve of mere civilians in the face of great odds, but still hated them for not being capable of true violence. Where they failed, Imperial forces and even an Astartes unit had to fill a gap or rout an attack to save them. My thoughts were interrupted by an explosion at the entrance on our objective; so Wolf Priest Skaldir ordered us to charge for the thinnest area in the siege lines. He voxed Helfdane to rally back from his scouting mission and it was met with a response of weapon fire in the background.

"..avy contact, cannot ..mply. Awai…. orders."

"Wolves on me! We go to aid our brother and fight our way through the Traitor lines! For Russ and the Allfather!" Wolf Priest Skaldir bellowed his orders and inspiration.

We rushed headlong into the fray, covering as much ground and cutting down as many heretics as we could find. The chaos of combat drowned out all but the necessary noises and we finally found Helfdane with las scorched armor and cuts on his face. He was just standing there smiling excited at the flow of battle, managing to take out at least a platoon's worth of foes. Moving on through the siege lines we eventually made it to the beleaguered civilians holed up in their holy structure.
"Wolves stay here and take up positions to hold the line, Ulfhedinn Panzerlied with me." Ordered Wolf Priest Skaldir.

"Affirmative Wolf Priest." Responded the others.

"This is Wolf Priest Skaldir of the Space Wolves, open this door in the name of the Emperor!" He said with a commanding voice.

The heavy doors slowly started to open and we were allowed entrance. The air smelled dank and was thick with fear and nervousness. Reading the expressions and stances of the terrified civilians was easy, but what made them tense up more was the sight of us; though more likely of Wolf Priest Skaldir. Standing tall in his blackened plate and wolf skull helm he was an imposing sight and his voice added weight to his presence. We were greeted by an elderly man, my guess around one hundred and fifty in gilded robes with an ornate gold staff to prop up his frail form.

"My lord," replied the old man. "It is good you have come to our aid; the God Emperor has truly smiled upon us. Blessed are we children of the almighty God-Emperor for we have been delivered from damnation by His Angels. We have…."

"I haven't come here for a sermon, please state your name and business here." Wolf Priest Skaldir interrupted.

"Forgive me my Lord, I am Deacon Graveth and I from what I can tell am the only representative of the Ecclesiarchy left on this section of the planet. You have come to bring us to safety yes?"

"We have come to see if anyone is alive yes. As far as saving you goes, that depends on if we can extract you from this building you've occupied, and whether the heretics outside plan on being cooperative today. Luckily my Wolves and I have a solid chance of persuading them. Those of you who are able to use arms, provide covering fire from your locations here, the rest of us will take the fight to the enemy. Now if you'll excuse us we have an enemy to kill."

Stepping out of the building the others are still there taking shots at the traitor lines, and at the sound of Wolf Priest Skaldir, we form up in a wedge and start to run toward the oncoming fire. I noticed the stubber and lasfire from the building we left has picked up; and knowing the Angels of the Emperor are with them has likely emboldened them to fight harder.

"Wolves Bjorn and Helfdane, I want you on the left with Hrafn and Sigurd. Wolves Einar and Erik, on the right with Ragnarr and Hrolf. Everyone else with me as we take center. I've requested Thunderhawk support from elsewhere on the planet as Great Wolf Logan Grimnar secures it; whether we get it or not remains to be seen. However, we are the Vlka Fenryka, and we will attack to defend humanity. Now Wolves! Fan out and attack! For Russ and the Allfather!"

We surged forth, our goals known, to deal swift death to those who stand against us and the Imperium we defend. The renegades, there heretics, the aliens, those who would see us fail. Wolf Priest Skaldir's Crozius lit up as its generator turned on, force energy cackling around it with a need to end the existence of heresy in its path. I drew my axe and bolt pistol and went into the first trench with him, the other Wolves that came with us moved off to our sides to secure the flanks, while the two groups on the far flanks hit the lines hard. I felt a searing air whiff past my head and looked forward to see a heavy stubber being setup to suppress our advance. The lasfire quickened and we soon found ourselves bogged down. I swept left and managed to grab heavy adamantine plates to use as portable cover as we advanced toward the gun. An explosion echoed to my left and I saw chunks of mist and meat fly in all directions. Not wanting to get distracted by it, I pushed forward, edging my way toward the next trench so I could more directly flank the heavy stubber. The assault upon my makeshift shield was testing the servos in my armor but I managed to force through the constant hammering of the gun. Crouching behind the trench wall I saw a few grenades fly into the trench with me and I dodged out of the way. That's when I noticed the heavy stubber opening up again, in the direction of the Wolf Priest. Fighting my way through resisting traitor guardsman I found the path toward the gun and made out in full sprint toward my immediate objective.

"Whatever you're doing Wolf do it now, this is getting quite annoying." Barked Wolf Priest Skaldir.

"Acknowledged, almost there Wolf Priest."

I jump onto a stack of crates and pull myself up by the makeshift emplacement for the heavy stubber and then leap over the sandbags to the surprised traitor guard. Cutting them down without a thought I then heft the heavy stubber and throw it into the crates I jumped from, realizing that they were full of ammo. I prime a grenade and toss it to destroy the gun. Leaping off I head back to the Wolf Priest as the explosion collapses a section of the trench network.

"The other squads fair well Wolf Priest?" I ask.

"They do Wolf, one casualty though; that explosion as you assaulted the gun was one of the Blood Claws that came with us. Nothing left to save. The chaos of warfare kills us all eventually, until that day we can only meet it headlong and with fire in our beating hearts. Reports from other Wolf forces around the planet indicate that this fight will soon be over; our task here is done. The other packs are clearing up what's left of the traitors and we'll hopefully be back home to Fenris decent Warp travel permitting. Now Wolf, an evaluation of your conduct for this brief campaign. Since you are in my charge I will teach you something about warfare. Before your assault on that cursed Leman Russ was you sat idle, and while I appreciate your predilection of wanting to secure your life so that you may yet live long to teach future Wolves; I do now demand that you do without such notions. If you are to be a Wolf Priest, you must stand upright and resolute in front of and beside your Brothers, so that they may see your example, and fight harder because of it. You handled that tank well, as you did that gun emplacement, these remains of debased humanity you scoured from this world were not true test of your zeal however foul they may have been. For a better judgement we can only hope we face some of the foul Xenos that plague our galaxy."