(Disclaimer: I own nothing of Zelda or Warhammer or anything else! Well . . . my house is mine, at least.)

Author's note: Hello! So did you miss me? I had some Warhammer painting to do that's why it took me so long, sorry . . . and homework and school and Air Cadets . . . . :( I've made a few changes; the names of ships will be in italic as will any words of a different language. Oh! And these (888) mean flashbacks. So without further longing, I bring you the third part of Ordo Triforceus! - And please review.

PART 3: THE CLAM BEFORE THE STORM

Chapter 11: Preparations For Battle

As Link was told, he had sat in his room polishing his sword and shield. Ganondorf's words still fluttered around in his head. Just incase a war breaks out? What did that mean? He hoped Ganondorf didn't come back with bad news, if he did, it could mean the end. Link looked at his sword. It glimmered in the soft, fluorescent light casting a ray it was reflecting onto the wall. He smiled. If Ganondorf said that the Eldar were this evil and hateful, this sword would do the trick. Link played with it a bit, prancing around the room as if he were in battle then finally crashing back onto his bed. For now Link put his sword and shield away, both shinning like mirrors and ready for the heat of combat once again. He'd try to get some good sleep tonight and try not to think what tomorrow would bring. Slowly but surely he slipped into the darkness, praying to the Goddesses that what ever the future would bring, it would be light to snuff out the ever present shadow of evil.

Just like every morning so far, Ganondorf bolted down the hall making sure everyone was roused from his or her pleasant dreaming. Today he would break the bad news, three days to prepare wasn't a lot and time was precious. He would call a formal down in the chapel to debrief the situation. Come to think of it, the chapel was more a place of gathering than of worship. He felt like an Imperial, this was the type of shit the Space Marines did before fighting. Though he hadn't planed on saying prayers or reading inspirational literature, he knew he'd be doing it just to give his people hope and faith to fight. "I feel so fucking much like a damned Space Marine Chaplain!" He muttered to himself harshly under his breath. In actual fact he had never seen a real Chaplain before, he had only seen pictures in the old history books recovered from the ship that crashed here five years ago . . . . His mind jumped, he had to spill all this to Link! It was a little sooner than he hoped to be telling the kid about the ship. If only the damned war came later! Link was one of the last he needed to wake, after all he was Link's trainer. Ganondorf jogged to Link's door and knocked. Expecting another morning delay, Ganondorf was surprised- no, shocked that Link had opened the door and was standing fully dressed. Upon seeing the look of distress that now took hold of Ganondorf's bold features, Link opened his mouth to say something. Ganondorf quickly cut in before he could say a word. "We need to talk. . . ." He said, his lips a thin, grim line.

Link and Ganondorf walked side by side down the futuristic, metal hall. "So?" Link started as he glanced up at Ganondorf. Ganondorf let out a heavy sigh, "this way" he said motioning for Link to follow him. He slipped his card into the reader of the door he had abruptly stopped in front of. "Please, take a seat." He pointed to a chair right across from him in front of a wooden desk. This obviously being some sort of office. Link sat and Ganondorf followed soon after, taking his place behind the luxurious desk. He leaned back in the leather chair then soon spoke. "I have some bad news, Link." He began and cleared his throat to continue on. "The Eldar have given us three days to prepare a strike force. In short we're waging an all out war." Link's jaw dropped so low that he could hear it hit the floor. He couldn't believe what Ganondorf was telling him. "W-we fight?" Link questioned. "But I haven't even learned to use the weapons here." The corners of Ganondorf's mouth twitched into a sad smile. "That's why we need to cram it all in in three days. That means I need to show you basic weapons skill in three days. The plus side is you already know all your close combat, all that's left is ranged. It's going to be tough." Link nodded, looking very serious about the matter. Ganondorf hesitated, mentally debating if he should tell Link about the ship that had crashed. His good side won him over. If there was one thing that was worse than war, it was not knowing how the hell it all happened. "Link," Ganondorf started. Link looked at him intensely. "Five years ago a ship crashed here . . . ."

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The
Emperor's Wrath was a fine Imperial gun ship. The elite Imperial Guards Men of the Divine Golden Throne Of Terra were the sacred possessors of the holy craft. Maintenanced by thousands of robotic-like servitors, barely even human, say for the pumping organic core that thrived within them. Yes, the extravagant ship sailed through space as if a fish were gliding through water. The gray paint job would make it appear to be a graceful, silver bullet cutting through the blackness of space to anyone who viewed from afar. The huge, black Imperial Eagle spread it's mighty wings covering most of the hull; a symbol of the Imperium's strength and will to crush thee a posing enemy and protect human kind. At least three hundred decks made up the Emperor's Wrath, each significant in their own way and a man was seated at every station. Guns that looked tiny from the random, distant passerby were impossibly gigantic up close, and spotted the hull in a uniformed fashion. Tri-linked plasma engines thrummed at the rear, propelling the impeccable form of the Wrath through the never-ending void of space. Trailing with them a never-ending supply of work and hard-ship. Little did the unsuspecting crew know that this divine relic to the Emperor was about to become their tomb.

Aboard the bridge, Captain Brinn stared out into the vastness of space from the bridge's observation port, this almost covering an entire wall with glass. He marveled at his ship. It brought him such pride and honor to be the captain of a tribute to Him who sat upon the Golden Throne Of Earth. Ahh yes, The Emperor's Wrath was the fastest and most powerful ship in the Imperium, not even the most treacherous Xenos (Alien) or the traitor Marines of Chaos could take down this ship. He slowly peeled his eyes away from space and fixed it on the crewmen and the lifeless but hard working servitors on the bridge. Everyone was busy, just the way he liked it. His Lieutenant, Jackson, stood beside him. "Isn't it a wonderful sight, Captain?" He queried. The Captain replied back with a smile, "Yes, I believe it is, Lieutenant." The Captain paused to look into space once more, then turned to the man. "I hope you loaded up the cargo, Jackson." The Captain joked around. "Umm . . . oops," Jackson joked back, "I think I forgot it . . . ." Brinn laughed. Yes it was funny, 3000 light-years for nothing. He didn't know why the Adeptus Mechanicus wanted the faulty suits of Power Armor stored away in his ship. He was just there to deliver it along with the many thousands of Data Slates and weapons. Research? Maybe, probably. The Mechanicus worked in strange ways, saying that they wanted the storage that their ever-so-valuable cargo was contained in to be crash-proofed. What could be so important? He would think about it another day, but for now . . . .

All of a sudden, warning lights flashed their red glow onto the shaken forms of the now surprised crew. The light mood of humor dissipated as if it were a cloud of smoke and the sweaty reek of tension and worry soon seeped it's way into the minds of the men controlling the ship. The servitors, hard wired into the bridge, did not freight but typed frantically at their consoles to locate the problem. With in an instant the servitors found out the mishap. It appeared that the ship had been shot at with some sort of alien homing missile heading for the ship's plasma thrusters. The Captain shouted out an order and the closest servitor replied in its droning, metallic voice. "Plasma core one down, 83 damage report. Planetary gravitational force constriction, prepare for emergency landing." Buzzed the monotone servitor. The Captain and his crew feared the worse.

And worse had yet to come as the ship was pulled into the atmosphere of the uncharted planet. The already damaged plasma cores were unstable as it was and the extra added heat and pressure wasn't helping. Finally they gave way, incinerating any soul in the engine rooms in a gust of nuclear flame. The whole backside of the Wrath was blown into shreds of hot metal as all three cores detonated. It was a quick and painless death to all who were unfortunate to be in the way. The more unlucky crewmen that had been just outside the blast zone died trying to seal off blast doors from the deadly chemical inferno and vacuum of space. The great depletion of air proved how fragile the ship's frame really was, the weak metal compressed and buckled before being torn off into the ever-greedy vacuum. Decks upon magnificent decks were chewed up, taking thousands of lives with them. The Captain sat on the bridge, helpless, and watched as the ship's many life-support sectors winked out one by one. "I guess it wasn't so durable after all." His last words barely audible over the screams of dying men as the mass of chemical fire finally hit the bridge and took all in blistering agony. The Emperor's Wrath wasn't so mighty anymore.

On the planet below, the citizens of Hyrule stood awe-struck as a giant ball of flame came hurtling straight at them. It was a hit and miss situation, the flaming wreckage had just narrowly avoided them sending it's streaking mass across the sky to Termina. In a spectacular but fatal light show it crashed, killing thousands of the never suspecting people of Termina. It was a sight to behold, and the many Hylain peoples watched as their loving, neighboring county was set ablaze. Out of the many Hyrule peoples watching was Ganondorf Dragmire. He knew none of the Termians were spared.
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"So, you salvaged the wreck?" Link confirmed after listening to Ganondorf's heart wrenching story. He nodded. "Yes, and what we found truly amazed us. I'll be introducing you to it today." Ganondorf stood up and stretched. "Let's go." He said. Link got up and followed. He was extremely curious on what Ganondorf had to show him, it was always something cool.

"We're going to weapons storage." Ganondorf said to Link as he walked down the hall. To Link the base now felt like home, the corridors not bothering him so much as it did a day or two ago. Again Link was there, in the almost intimidating weapons room. The floors black marble surface lined with white cracks made the place look darker even with the bright glare of the lighting. He looked at the racks, the weapons making him feel safe but worried. His mind dismissed the thought. If Ganondorf was here to kill him he would have done it along time ago. Why would he imagine such a thing? He came up with the answer as soon as he asked the question. It's not like he'd been here a whole lot of times, the weapons could look scary at first. Knowing you could use them or be killed by them was a completely different thought on it's own. He cringed then went back to reality. Ganondorf had never taken him to this part of weapons storage before, how many different halls did this place have?

"This is the crew's armory," Ganondorf said to Link, "everything you see here belongs to a specific soldier that's unique in his or her own way." Link looked at the wall Ganondorf had pointed at. It was lined with thousands of uniforms, each with their own name in gold thread on the right breast pocket. Apart from that, the uniforms looked exactly the same; the same dark green helmets with a golden Triforce symbol centered in the middle forehead area, the same camo out fits of green, brown and black, and the same Re-breather masks hanging of the rack below along with the identical guns. Link didn't see what Ganondorf meant about unique.

Ganondorf shook Link out of his day dreaming and motioned for him to come. "These are the prime items we recovered from the totaled ship, they were sealed in a crash-proof storage unit. Not a scratch on 'em." Ganondorf was marveling at three suits of armor, one red, one blue and one green. Oddly, the one that was blue seemed to be fitted for a women. "These are suits of Power Armor, Link. The differences in size are bizarre for this kind of garb because only Space Marines wear these," he turned to Link, "and Space Marines are all the same height . . . ." Link frowned. "What's a Space Marine?" Link asked. Ganondorf smiled. "A Space Marine," he started, "is a genetically engineered soldier of the Imperium. They are all the same except say, for facial features and personalities." Link nodded, oddly comprehending all of the new information. "What about the blue one?" Link posed another question. "The blue one is actually from the Orders Militant- the Sisters of Battle. The Sisters are also known to join up with the Ordo Hereticus, um, Witch Hunters, yeah, that's it. Though I can't tell what division it's from, it's obviously made for a Sister." Ganondorf explained to him. "The red one?" Link questioned yet again. "Chaos!" Said Ganondorf with a smug grin, "From the dark legions of the Horus Heresy, to the plague-ridden corpses of Father Nurgel himself. This armor is of Undivided Chaos, not bowing to any of the Dark Gods but bowing to them as well. It's the whole evil package in one." Link was taken aback, Ganondorf's vast knowledge of the 41st millennium was extremely shocking. It was like he knew everything! "Alright then, how about the green one?" Link smiled, hoping he would stump Ganondorf. He calmly replied, "The green one is Imperial. The Chaos one is just a pirated and upgraded version of this." He gestured to the suit. "And apparently the red one fits me perfectly. I have a sneaking suspicion that the green one is for you and the blue could quite possibly be for Zelda." The biggest grin spread across Link's face. "I'll be wearing one of those?!" He jeered, "COOL!"

Link gazed at the awesome suits of Power Armor. The Chaos armor with it's dark crimson color and it's spiked gauntlets and knee pads made it look menacing to begin with but the helmet could lock anyone into cold, hard fear. It was deep green in some areas just like Ganon's flesh and it was shaped just like the great Daemon's head. Complete with the bleached bone horns and a fiery red mane that ran down the back of the hulking suit. It was different though, in a way. The snout of the beast was smaller than the original Ganon, it ended were the Re-Breather grill did (Space Marines have Re-Breathers built into the helmet, they stick out a bit. Think of a Star Wars Storm Trooper helmet and add Darth Vader's grill part). Etched on the air intake grill were golden teeth making it look like the helmet was snarling. As for the rest of the suit, apart being decorated by extremely sharp objects, it was rimmed in gold with chaos arrows snaking up the shin armor and shoulder pads in the same gold plating. The eight-pointed chaos star (think of a compass rose) was displayed on the right shoulder armor and the Triforce on the left. The chest plate, even though dwarfed by the massive shoulder pads, was black and displayed the Gerudo symbol with dragon wings protruding from both sides of it, again in gold. Last but not least was the Power Belt joining the upper and lower armor, holding grenades and clipping together by a golden, horned skull with sharp looking teeth. It seemed to be missing it's lower jaw and frayed cloth that appeared to be pinned up somewhere in it's head, flowed down the center of the suit's legs. The motif of the cloth was that of Ganondorf's old cape with it being all white say for the red and blue lines.

Link found Ganondorf's armor crazily decorative almost to the point of making his head spin. How could he move in such a thing? He was glad to see that his armor was mostly plain. It was almost the exact same as Ganondorf's but it was shorter and a lot less spectacular. There wasn't really anything new. The helmet was the same . . . minus the charm. The suit was the same . . . minus the charm, not to mention the spikes. The only things that were different were the symbols on the shoulder pads, the chest plate and the belt. The shoulder pads had the Imperial Eagle on one and the Triforce on the other cast in silver. The belt was nothing special either. It had a rounded medallion in the same silver with a green gem in the center of it. The chest plate was dull as well; it showed the Hylain Eagle spreading its wings . . . in the same old silver. His was boring compared to Ganondorf's. But he liked it any way. Besides it was green, his favorite color.

He glanced at Zelda's and was immediately bowled over. Even more decorative than Ganondorf's, it was shaped for the female body. It lacked the general bulk of the male armor but still possessed the same potential. It generally looked as if someone wore a robe underneath the suit itself. The armor was a dark, shinny black and the robe a light blue. The large, heavy boots of the male armor were replaced with sleek high-heeled ones and the knee pads were no more. Instead, the shin and knee armor was fused into one and the two joints were at the foot and upper knee (think Samus's leg armor). The armor seemed tight, fitting all the curves of a girl's body. The power belt still remained in gold plating with a medallion showing off its blue gem in the center. This obviously being the clip to hold the belt together. Just like Ganondorf's, it boasted a light blue cloth that hung down in between the legs, both in front and back. Each having the Eye Of Truth and Triforce stitched in gold thread. Further up the torso, the breast plates were out lined in gold and each breast had a gold flure di Lys upon it. The shoulder pads were not incredibly huge and rounded like a bowl, but more triangular, smaller though rounded just the same (think of Samus's OLD shoulder pads). These were out lined in gold as well, and had the Triforce on the left and the symbol of Our Martyred Lady on the right. Right below the shoulder pads, located on the back of both arms, a thick strip of blue cloth hung down decorated with the gold thread. The gauntlets and hand armor were also tightly fitting and feminine. All in the same black and rimmed in gold. A collar of armor came up to protect the neck area. The next feature was the helmet, in black as well. The top part of it was the same as Link's but the Re-Breather grill was replaced by two smooth panels that came to a point like a train plough covering the lower half of the face. Even though the grill wasn't visible the two air hoses located at the back of the helmet indicated there was a Re-Breather.

Link never knew there was such marvelous things in this universe until he came to the 41st millennium. This place was a shocking and dark world but Ganondorf seemed to hold together here best. Ganondorf laid a large hand on Link's shoulder. "I guess we should get Zelda and try these on, don't you think?" Link smiled and nodded. "I think you're right" he said. Ganondorf took out a small radio from his back pocket and paged Nabooru. Link heard some crackling and than Nabooru's soft voice notifying Ganondorf that she was on her way.

Seconds later Nabooru and Zelda entered, their footsteps creating an echo in the high-ceilinged chamber. Ganondorf spun around to gaze at the two lovely women before him. "Ahh. Hello Zelda, Nabooru." Link also said his greetings to follow suit with Ganondorf. Nabooru and Zelda both smiled. "I better leave Zelda with you two." Nabooru said. "I have some things to do." With that she left the two men and her student alone. Ganondorf steepled his fingers. "Zelda, Link," he said as he reached into a near by locker, "put these on." He chucked two plane, black, tight fitting suits at Link and Zelda. "Uhh, change into them." He said as he fetched another for himself. "Zelda?" Link questioned, "you change first." She nodded and motioned for them to turn around. After she was done Ganondorf and Link changed soon after. "What are these black suits for, Ganondorf?" Link asked. Ganondorf gave a silent reply by pointing to the Power Armor.

Ganondorf told Link and Zelda to put on their Power Armor. Zelda was surprised but did so anyway. After some struggling, falling over and some help from Ganondorf the two rookies were ready for action. Ganondorf led them to a mirror. "Wow!" Link exclaimed as he looked at himself. Zelda's expression was equal to that of Link's. They looked simply marvelous. Link frowned at Ganondorf. "Why aren't you wearing yours?" he said. Ganondorf just grinned, "you'll see in three days. Make that two and a half actually." Link looked two times bigger than he did before and his head looked crazily small in the immense armor. Zelda wasn't that bad though, the female armor didn't really add much bulk but still made her look like a force to contend with. "I simply love this suit!" Zelda stated with a smile on her face. "Yes, they're nice, aren't they?" said Link back to her. She nodded. "How 'bout we go get some lunch?" asked Ganondorf cutting in. The two grinned and nodded their approval. Ganondorf helped them strip their armor and took them both to the mess hall.

As they were walking down the hall Link thought of something. "Hey Ganondorf, the helmets, do they do anything special?" Ganondorf looked down at him. "Yes, yes they do. Inside the helmet there are special Life Runes in the eyepiece. The eyepiece being called the Retina, it's just a technical term. What the Life Runes do is notify you of the other people who are wearing a Power Suit. It generally shows the condition of your friends and you. We, being Zelda, you and myself are all linked into one system, so three Life Runes would appear on your Retina. Each being a different colored Triforce symbol: red for me, green for you and blue for Zelda. If one of us gets hit or injured the corresponding Triforce symbol of that person will flash yellow then red, depending on what shape they're in." Link nodded with interest.

They stood in line for lunch and all ate together. Nabooru soon found and joined them. "So? What's up?" She asked the group. Ganondorf gave her a reply, "I'm going to break the news to everyone today in the chapel after lunch." "I see," she said then added, "you haven't already?" "Nope." He said back in a monotone voice. "Your such a procrastinator!" she mock-scolded him. He smiled, "of course! I'm just as lazy as before! Why, I'm so lazy that I don't even bother to turn off my alarm clock anymore, I just shoot it with my auto-mag. Further more I-" She cupped her hand over his mouth playfully and yelled, "we get the point, Ganondorf!" "Alright," he bit back, "touchy." His tone became serious, "I'll need to get going. We all need to be down at the chapel in an hour from now, I need to find away to put this news lightly." He smiled at the three of them, cleaned up his mess and left. "There goes the bravest man I ever saw." Link mumbled.

Ganondorf didn't know how he would say it. He just knew these three days would be filled with screaming, yelling, bitching, moaning, crying and the like . . . not to mention fist fighting and cramped conditions. He would try not to explode but if he did . . . well, he'd try not to think about that. There came a time in every man's life that even "as nice as you please", every body needed to vent off some rage. The war was perfect for him, in some ways he wished it never happened but in other ways he needed blood. And blood he would get, gallons and gallons of thick, red, Eldar life flowing over his hands. Hot and cold crimson. He took a moment to go to Base Command to tell the people there to let every body know of his chapel meeting. As planned it was done on the double. He returned to his quarters for a while trying to word his speech as best he could. With fifteen minutes to spare he made his way to the chapel, many people were already filing in, hoping not to be late. He climbed up to the pedestal at the very front of the cathedral, it's high ceilings making the worried voices seem even louder.

The place in it's self was beautiful, the soft aroma of in-scents lingered in the air omitted by swaying pot-like burners hanging from the ceiling. The many-lit stands of candles cast their warm, glowing light onto the cream colored walls and shinny marble floor. Shadows danced joyfully as if playing a game and created an atmosphere of comfort to the dim but inviting chamber. Rows of highly decorated pews stood neatly along side each other in rows, all engraved with the Triforce symbol. Stain glass windows ran along side the church walls depicting how the Hero Of Time defeated The Great Evil, much to Ganondorf's dislike. At the center of it all was the most extravagant thing yet, directly above the pedestal was a huge stain glass window twice the size of any in the chapel showing the three Golden Godesses holding up the Triforce with the words "For our blessed Ladies!" directly under them. This felt like home to everyone.

Everyone seamed settled into their places and Ganondorf began after silencing the crowd. "As you know," Ganondorf barked out in his most authoritative voice, "the Eldar have been plaguing us for five years now!" The crowd gave a slight murmur. "Though I have bad news for you all. The Eldar have given us a warning, if we do not fight or surrender in three days we will DIE! Yes! For we shall go to war!" The group started off quiet then rumbled into a raging storm. The Zora community gasped as well as the bumbling Gorons. A wave of anger and confusion grasped the mob who exploded than and there, hooting their disapproval. "LISTEN!" Roared Ganondorf. Everyone shut up and sank down into his or her seat frightened of Ganondorf's aggressive response. "Thank you," He growled before continuing on, "now, these three days will be the hardest yet but you all know what to do. You've all been combat trained, flight trained, whatever. Starting tomorrow you shall prepare, next day you shall finish preparations and get a good rest because the day of we march into battle. So! Tank drivers fuel and fix up your tanks! Air men, same for you. Is that clear?" The crowd groaned. "I SAID IS THAT CLEAR?!" Everyone jumped out of their seats and saluted, "SIR, YES SIR!" they hollered in unison before sitting down again. "Dismissed!" Ganondorf yelled. They all rose again and filed out without a sound.

Chapter 12: Waiting . . . .

The next two days was hell on earth, Ganondorf screamed at everyone he saw out of line, Link included. Link's training also began . . . with a side order of yelling. Nabooru had the same principles, she worked Zelda until she had broken down into sobs. They both learned how to use the unique weapons and basically lived in their Power Armor. With the armor, the Bolt Shells that were fired out of the Bolters didn't bruise their unconditioned arms. The basic troopers seemed to use Las-Weapons (Las-Gun, Las-Pistol) because they had virtually no re-coil. The Bolters would rip an unarmored man's arm off if they so dared to fire one. The only man in the base who could fire one unprotected was Ganondorf himself . . . even then it would bruise.

Link was getting better after each hour he trained, Even the base was getting better. Everyone was prepping and talk of victory was about. Ganondorf had switched into a green military uniform to demand respect, and respect he got. Everything was ready, he was ready, Zelda was ready . . . everything. They waited and waited, almost eager to be in battle. When the night of the last day came Ganondorf called a meeting in the chapel. He asked for everyone to wear his or her garb; Zora's in sleek black stealth suits armed with light armor and sniper rifles. Hooded black capes ran down their backs and they also had possession of night vision goggles and cloaking devices. Goron's had no class though. Instead, armed to the teeth with ammo belts and heavy weapons they could bring up the rear after the Zora's made their surprising assault. The rest generally wore green camo outfits. All fitted with Las-Guns and carapace armor they led the major fighting force.

Ganondorf cleared his throat to speak. "Some of you," he started, "are not going to make it. I'll tell you that right now. You are all brethren and I expect that you take care of each other, no one gets left behind! Oh! And another damn thing, don't show any of those Goddamn aliens any mercy! You're here to kill and purge the Xenos! When the fighting starts, if I see any of you running away, I'll kill you myself! I hope everyone's ready to go, and go to bed early tonight! I don't want anyone falling asleep on the battlefield. Alright everyone, you'll get up at 5:00 hours and get immediately into your squads. I hope that's clear for everyone! Dismissed!"

With that the soldiers marched out waiting for their death day. They all went to bed in their uniforms and dreamed of the nightmare to come. In that mix of five thousand or more people, Ganondorf, Zelda and Link were eagerly waiting too. Fires burned in their souls and their goals shined brightly in their minds, all that was left was to put their plan into action.

The morning came like a rushing freight train. Almost everyone was in Ganondorf's weapons locker getting ready for the hard day ahead. Link and Zelda stood in their suits of Power Armor watching the spectacle as all the members of the base were running around in their designated uniforms. Ganondorf had helped Zelda and Link into their suits earlier in the morning and said he'd be right back after he had changed. He emerged triumphantly shortly after his leave. He looked awesome. He yelled out and everyone snapped to attention and headed for their tank transports in the next bay over.

The Rhino transport tanks were unarmed but functioned as an APC (Armored Personnel Craft) anyway and brought the troops into battle instead of them walking.

Ganondorf took Zelda and Link to the nearest tank and ushered them in. Several men in camo uniforms and Re-Breathers followed after them. It was a little cramped but well lit with nice, sturdy seats. The engine growled like a savage beast and with a slight jerk, it rolled out of the base. Link looked over at Ganondorf, he didn't have his helmet on but a Re-Breather covered the lower half of his face instead. The weapon that he was holding was much different that the ones Zelda and himself had gotten. It wasn't a Bolter but it was similarly shaped but with an extended barrel that ended in a roaring dragon's mouth. Ganondorf realized that Link was staring at him, "it's a Flamer," he said as if reading Link's mind. Ganondorf broke eye contact as he heard the driver yell "three minutes until deployment!" over the roar of the tank's engines. Ganondorf took off his Re-Breather and addressed the other men that had followed the three into the cabin. "Alright!" he said, starting his battle rites speech, "when the fighting starts listen to the Vox, be sure to have contact with me and don't wet yourselves. Understood?" "SIR, YES, SIR!" they all yelled out in unison. Ganondorf was silent from this point on, he was probably thinking about all the fine men who would die today. Meditating on the grim thought. "Deployment now!" screamed the driver, scaring Link. He heard the tank sputter a deep whine as it slowed its speed at opened the rear hatch to let the eleven of them out. Over the vast, barren horizon of red and black sky and sickly colored earth, Link could see a hundred or more so tanks drop off their respective units. They quickly gathered into their squads as their transports turned around and headed back to the base to fuel up, bring in re-enforcements, or be haled for quick extraction of troops. Link almost gagged as he took in a breath of the tainted, almost toxic air. "Put your helmet on!" Ganondorf hissed and Link did as he was told. Already he could feel the suit taking hold of his body, he saw the life runes of his comrades and knew that everything was in working order. Zelda stepped out with her helmet on and joined Link not saying a word to him. Link gazed at all the dedicated soldiers. There was chatter over the Vox-line as the squad Sergeants relayed information to the lesser ranks. It was the exact same information that had been passed on to the Sergeants by the bases mastermind, Ganondorf. Every one lined up in a siege line using Ganondorf as their focal point. Ganondorf switched on his Vox-Caster. "They must be here. . . ." he whispered to his second in command standing right beside him, dwarfed by Ganondorf's massive suit of power armor. As if a call and response the eager crew heard a deep rumbling as they looked to the ground and saw the rocks and pebbles shaking violently. The vibrating got more intense with every passing second and a low, bass-like hum was heard under a high pitched whine of what sounded like souped-up engines and the smooth silky tone of Eldar battle chants. Ganondorf's legion was in a valley and he did not want to know what was rapidly progressing over that seemingly endless hill . . . .

I'm so sorry this took me soooooo long! I apologize to everyone that's a reader. Please forgive me! :( Well anyway, I hope you enjoyed this latest installment of Ordo Triforceus. Please note that everything that is unexplained now will be explained later on in the story so please be patient. And I'm always open to story suggestions! - Oh! And finally the fight with the Eldar next chapter, and it gives away key plot clues to what comes next! Remember, please review! Thankies! -

Ganondorf, Wesker 'n Tyranids