Thank you for the reviews, gentlemen. It's funny, I didn't even remember that the Imperial Fists were the Iron Warriors' rivals when I wrote that. I just picked a random Space Marine chapter. Here, now, is the second chapter of Iron Warrior.
"Iron Within, Iron Without! Iron Within, Iron Without!"
The twisted, bio-mechanical monstrosity that was now Brother Aalx howled in defiance of mortality and sanity as it ripped gaping holes in the barricade. The battle chant of the Iron Warriors filled the air, matching the gunfire and the thunder and the screams of dying men. Sergeant Jrolen roared along with the rest as Third Squad filled the growing opening in the wall with a storm of bolter fire. A Commissar bellowed the charge, swinging his power sword, faith-maddened Guardsmen counterattacking at his side.
Jrolen laughed as Earlkas's frag missile blew six of them into bloody slag, the rest being cut down mercilessly. The Commissar spat obscenities at the Traitor Marines, leaping up and embedding his sword in Brother Keltor's shoulder. The Marine beat his face into a bloody pulp with one of his pistols, before kicking the officer away and shooting him twice with the other. Brother Aalx roared and bashed through the weakened barricade, the twin-linked bolters in his arms coming to life.
"Iron Within, Iron Without! Iron Within, Iron Without!"
Jrolen charged into the breach, emptying his magazine into the Imperial fortifications ahead. Instantly mounted guns opened up from all sides of the square courtyard. Three Marines were ripped apart by heavy bolter fire and one slumped under the pummeling of a heavy stubber. The Traitor sergeant dove into cover next to Brother Vexxus, a Havoc Marine with a flamer. Vexxus drew his pistol, took careful aim, and blew the head off of a heavy bolter gunner. Jrolen slammed a new clip into its slot with practiced smoothness and looked around the side of the chunk of rockcrete.
Iron Warrior corpses were scattered across the courtyard. The Traitor Marines were falling back to cover. First Sergeant Ceroth was no fool. So he waited for the captured Vindicator to barrel through the breach in the wall and annihilate one of the Courtyard's two buildings, followed by a pair of Rhinos.
"Iron Within, Iron Without! Iron Within, Iron Without!"
Keltor led the charge, kicking the door of the other structure and charging in, pistols blazing. Feddorl leapt in behind him, bolter kicking as he put five rounds in a Guardsman's chest. Jrolen and Getol followed them in, drawing and revving their chainswords. The Iron Warriors outside initiated a vicious but short exchange of fire with the Guard on the roof. Jrolen and his squad hacked, blasted, and pistol-whipped their way though the building. Most of the Guard scarcely had a chance to fight back.
That is until a robed figure holding a long, aquila-tipped staff raised a finger and destroyed Keltor from the waist down. The psyker coughed up blood, but raised his hand for another attack. Feddorl opened fire, but the bolter rounds vanished into a shimmering blue layer that appeared around the psyker. Jrolen kicked the shield. The psyker staggered and loosed another bolt of electricity. The bionic arm he had gotten to replace the lost one saved him. The psychic lightning blackened Jrolen's armor, but merely caused the cybernetic limb to twitch. The sergeant gripped his blade with two hands and brought it down revving. The psyker keeled over, blood fountaining from mouth, nose, and eyes.
"Iron Within, Iron Without! Iron Within, Iron Without!"
Then the Imperial Stormtroopers entered the room. Getol tossed a grenade at them and Vexxus and his squad-brother Havion charged through the doorway. Bolter fire filled the room, but the Kasrkin are not killed that easily, and they retreated towards the roof. That was when the Obliterator teleported in. The screams of the dying filled the air. Then silence.
"Affirmative, Sergeant. We have reinforcements en route, you'll need to hold the position until then." "What is the likelihood of an Imperial counterattack?" "Very probable. I suspect that the base at Telbren has been preparing for sometime now. They knew that Eltsville would fall." "Confirmed, my lord." First Sergeant Ceroth turned to the assembled five squads of Iron Warriors(and Obliterator and Dreadnought).
"Defensive Pattern Incendrus. I want heavy bolters placed in the south tower and in the rubble on the west side. Sergeant Diloc, I want your Havoc squad on the south battlements. Distribute the heavy stubbers throughout each squad. I want marksmen on the battlements and on both sides of the west flank. Sergeant Plothros, I want your squad excavating trenches on the east end. I'm also giving you our two crates of thermal mines. Brother Aalx, hold in this clearing here-" He gestured to a small, hidden depression at the southwest tip of the town. "-and attack once they reach fifty yards. All other squads, arm yourselves and disperse along the west flank. Just like we did at Hellgarde, Marines," he concluded. "Iron Within, Iron Without!" "Iron Within, Iron Without!" cried the Iron Warriors in unison, and took up the battle chant as they set to work.
Crates of tank traps and razor wire were unloaded, pried open, and dispersed with frightening efficiency. Ammunition was placed in such a way so that it was out of the way of enemy fire and yet easy to reach, in crates of a size that would last the troops relying on them for some time, and yet small enough not to cause irreparable damage to the line. Trenches were excavated, considerable use found for the piles of rubble, which made excellent barricades. Within a matter of hours, at which point columns of dust could be seen on the horizon, the town of Eltsville had been transformed into a small fortress.
"Iron Within, Iron Without! Iron Within, Iron Without!"
Jrolen peered through the scope. "Five Chimeras approaching from the west," he voxed. "Make that four and a Hellhound." Came Sergeant Avrathix's voice from one of the gun emplacements. "I repeat, five Chimeras and a Hellhound. A full platoon approaching from the west." "Affirmative, Sergeant. Brother Feddorl, what is the word on the south?" "Two Leman Russes, a Basilisk, and a column of infantry moving in. At least a mile out." Feddorl suddenly swore and growled "It seems we've offended the Adeptus Mechanicus." "What is it?" asked Jrolen. Feddorl looked through his scope again and turned to his sergeant. "Skitarii."
The Basilisk opened up from two miles. They had no hope of stopping it from that range, even as inaccurate as it was. At a mile and a half the Guard moving in from the west began shelling the positions with mortars. The Iron Warriors kept their heads down and took no casualties, though Brother Ekluns lost a finger to flying shrapnel. The Imperial Guard they could handle. The artillery they could not. All it would take was one lucky shot and they'd be finished.
"Jrolen! Getol! Vexxus! Vallarins, and Zelrin!" bellowed First Sergeant Ceroth over the roar of the bolters and the screech of the plasma. "Come with me and bring melta bombs, we're going after that Basilisk! Squad Plothros, shore up that point! Havocs, get suppressing fire on that Hellhound!" He tossed a heavy stubber to Jrolen. "Take this and be ready to set it up. Sergeant Avrathix, you're in command! Iron Within! Iron Without!"
The Kill-team skirted the battlefield, keeping low and staying in the rubble and shelling craters. The Basilisk actually assisted them, creating endless amounts of cover with each shot. They met a squad of Skitarii attempting to do just the same thing as them about half a mile out. Vexxus fried them alive. It took them half an hour to reach the Imperial lines. Not a soul noticed. There was the Basilisk, hidden behind a protruding piece of rockcrete wreckage. A full squad of Skitarii stood at attention beside it. "One of them has a plasma cannon." Ceroth raised his plasma pistol. "Not for long."
"OPEN FIRE!" he yelled, and the Iron Warriors broke cover. Two Mechanicus soldiers were cut down by bolter fire, a third, the one with the plasma cannon, was shot in the face by Ceroth. The Skitarii returned fire with hellguns and plasma rifles, and one charged with a power sword. Jrolen revved his chainsword and met the Skitarii sergeant full on. Bionics and physical training were no match for a Chaos Space Marine. Jrolen swept the enemy's sword away and slashed horizontally across his midsection. The teeth of the sword whirred and sparked as they met metal instead of flesh. Jrolen drew back his sword for another strike, but was forced to parry as the Skitarii recovered.
He stabbed the sword home. "Big mistake." Hissed Jrolen, leaping away from the strike. He whirled his sword, nearly separating the sergeant from his feet, and then stabbed him through the neck. The rest of the Skitarii lay in pieces on the ground. First Sergeant Ceroth was sporting a plasma burn to the leg, and Vallarins was dead on the ground, shot full of holes. Getol muttered and pulled out his melta bombs. "No." said Ceroth. "I have a better idea. Sergeant Jrolen, set up that heavy stubber. Getol, bring me that shell."
Sergeant Avrathix roared defiance, spraying fire with his bolter, putting five holes in a Skitarii and blowing the head off an eager Imperial soldier. Marines with flamers were holding the enemy back at the very lips of the trenches. The Havoc squad had been forced into cover that was slowly being eaten away, but they were making the Chimera gunners' jobs very hard. Avrathix fixed a blade to the end of his bolter and impaled a Guardsman attempting to throw a grenade. Autogun fire skittered off his armor, denting it. The Traitor Marine put a round through the offender's forehead. A shout went up from midway through the line. Three Iron Warriors lay dead on the ground, Skitarii with power axes marching over them. A commissar with a power fist charged into the breach behind him, bellowing for his men to follow. They were heading for the Vindicator.
Avrathix primed a grenade and hurled it at them. The commissar seized it and threw it back at him. Avrathix ducked and the grenade exploded harmlessly against a wall. "Iron Within!" he screamed. "Iron Without!" He leapt at the commissar, slashing across his midsection as the Imperial officer swung at one of the Marines firing from on top of the Vindicator. The commissar doubled over, but then got back up and swung the deadly weapon at Avrathix. He ducked just in time to avoid having his head torn off. Guardsmen were starting to move through the breach, a Leman Russ moving closer, swiveling its massive turret to destroy the Havoc squad's tower.
Then the Earthshaker shell flew out of nowhere and demolished the battle tank. The Guardsmen must have thought they just had the worst artillery crews in the galaxy. Avrathix knew that couldn't be true. They weren't Orks. It meant that Ceroth was being creative.
The Iron Warriors charged. The battered Vindicator hit the engines and battered through everything in its path with its dozer blade, then gutting a Chimera with its cannon. The Traitor Legionnaires poured through behind it. Every time the Guard made another effective counter attack, the captured Basilisk would blow away half of them and scatter the rest. "I'd like to see the Imperial Fists do better." Jrolen chuckled to Ceroth from his place on the heavy stubber. The combination of it, the Basilisk's hull-mounted heavy bolter, and the Iron Warriors had forced back two Imperial attempts to take back the artillery piece.
Ceroth said what sounded like "Indeed-" but was cut off by a "shink" and a gurgle. Jrolen whirled, whipping out his bolter. Master Sergeant Ceroth was being lifted off the ground buy three bladed tentacles embedded in him. The tentacles were attached to a robed figure holding a plasma pistol and a lightning claw.
The Techpriest yanked the mechadendrites from the Traitor sergeant's body, dropping him in a bloody heap on the ground. He leveled his plasma pistol at Jrolen. On the other side of the Basilisk, the rest of the Kill-team was dueling with four frighteningly well-equipped Skitarii. "You go no farther, heretic. You will not live to see if the Imperial Fists can do any better." The Techpriest's voice was strange, emphasizing the S and Cs, and drawing out the Rs. Jrolen leapt to the side. The plasma bolt caught him in the leg, melting off his right foot. A second bolt vaporized the rock next to him. Jrolen got his bolter up and fired off a three round burst. The Techpriest took the shots in stride and holstered his pistol. A second lightning clew extended, and the tentacles whipped, cutting the air.
He threw himself at Jrolen, who hurled himself back, switching his bolter to full auto. He emptied the clip into the Techpriest, causing him to stagger. Something sparked and blood leaked from one of the few organic parts of his body. A tentacle slumped. The Techpriest hissed in frustration and charged, swinging faster than should have been possible with his lightning claws. He raked a pattern across Jrolen's chest before he could get out of the way. Jrolen scrambled over to Ceroth's prone form, seizing his power sword.
The Iron Warrior fought back the Techpriest with the dual weapons, delivering a barrage of strikes and cutting holes in his exoskeleton. A mechadendrite snapped out, severing something important in Jrolen's bionic arm. It sparked, and Jrolen took advantage. He cried out in mock pain and slumped. The Techpriest nodded and raised a tentacle for a killing blow. A slow killing blow. Jrolen leapt up and punched the Techpriest in the stomach. He jumped back and ran as fast as one foot would allow him. It was fast enough.
The heavy stubber pummeled the Techpriest for fifteen seconds before he collapsed in an unrecognizable heap. One of the Skitarii bodyguards came flying onto him, also a corpse. Jrolen turned in time to see Vexxus seize the meltagun out ofone of theirhands and shoot him in the face with it. Getol was slashing his enemy repeatedly with a knife. The last Skitarii collapsed.
Jrolen's eyes slowly closed in unconsciousness to the sight of the Hell Talon fighter-bombers. The sun was eclipsed by smoke colored red by blood.
"Iron Within, Iron Without! Iron Within, Iron Without! Iron Within, Iron Without! Iron Within, Iron Without!"
You likey? You no likey? Review, please, and reccomend it to enjoyers of 40k. Also, maybe this doesn't need to rated M...I'm just not that kind of guy.