Chapter 8 The Chaotic Battle
Disclaimer… Yea I don't own Games Workshop if I did I wouldn't be writing on here since I'd be filthy rich. Ok time for the story
Triton can see the mass of troops approaching. It looks like one giant swarm. It reminded him of a mural at the psycho-training temple on Macragge where it depicted the Battle for Macragge. Over a billion Tyranids swarming towards Marneus' Fortress, but this was on a smaller scale and yet it was massive. He lowers his auspex; the estimated troop count was a larger number than the screen had room for, somewhere in the tens of thousands. This was going to be intense.
Triton stepped off the firing stand and as soon as he was down a guardsman took his place, raised his las-rifle and was ready to fight. He climbed up the front trench and stood where everyone could see him. A bold move, being out in the open, He clicked the external com switch and started speaking to men in the trenches.
"Brothers of Battle! I ask you to fight along side me in this dire time of need. Some of you will die, many of you will be wounded, but has that ever stopped the Imperium of Man before? NO it hasn't. Man is a word that should mean a lot to you. What we will be fighting may look like man but show no compassion for he is not Man he is nothing but a corpse possessed by the greater evil. Show no mercy for he will show you none. Fight to kill for so shall he. We will not falter, so we will not lose. Keep fighting and this battle will be over before you know it. We are the God Emperor's chosen we will serve Him as he has served us! WE WILL FIGHT FOR HIM AND HE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES!"
He was answered with a chorus of cheers.
Triton made his way back to his tent and dialed up Lord Ulac. Letting Lord Ulac know that within an hour or two he and his Marines will be entering a massive battle.
"Sir, my men and the Imperial Guard are about to fight off another attack from the Blood Pact. They number in the tens of thousands."
"Make sure everyone is ready" replied Ulac.
"Sir everyone is set and ready for my orders."
"Very good"
"Alright sir, I am heading back to the front lines."
"One last thing Brother, The reinforcements have arrived and they are mustering now. They will assist you as soon as they can. We will initiate orbital bombardment on their rear and sides to get them to cluster for your more accurate mortars and keep them close when the fighting gets hand to hand. The Emperor Protects"
"Roger that sir, we will send the coordinates The Emperor Protects"
'So we might pull through after all…' Triton's thought was interrupted as he heard a distant cough of a mortar. It wasn't friendly fire, too far away. The sirens started to wail as the round blew up about 200 feet in front of the trenches.
Triton ran back to the trenches and took up his position. He was waiting for more mortar rounds but none came, just the one. Than he saw it, the mass was finally in view with the naked eye. That one round was a coordination round. It let the enemy get it's bearings as to where the Imperials were.
After 15 minutes of waiting, the first few rows of pact troops had crossed the Mine field. Triton allowed himself to another few moments. Within 2 minutes 4 more rows of troops had crossed the line. Now was his chance. There was about 2,000 Pact Troopers in front of the Minefield but would still get incinerated, 600 on the field itself and the rest of the army, approximately 15,000 men, behind it.
Triton whispered to the marine holding the detonation-pad:
"3….2….1…. BLOW IT!"
With that press of the button, an immense explosion erupted where the mine field used to be. It was so powerful that it shook the ground to the point that Triton was forced to grab the trench wall for support. Every single man within 200 feet of the line was instantly incinerated. Over 4,000 Pact troops were killed.
Triton watched as the mass of troops began to spread out, wary of another mine field. Triton picked up his com unit and dialed up the codes for Lord Ulac. He gave Ulac the coordinates of the Pact's position and where to aim the orbital bombs. Lord Ulac confirmed the coordinates and told Triton that the bombardment would commence in moments.
Triton looked up and saw star-like objects plummeting towards the earth. The first 10 bombs hit the correct mark and inflicted minor casualties, but caused the mass of what were once humans to cluster together making for easier targets. The Blood Pact had collected its dead and was throwing them into the crater/trench made by the mines in order to be able to cross it. The crater was so hot that the men in the trenches 300 feet away could hear the bodies sizzling as they were throw in. After 10 minutes of constant bombardment and taking the dead and using them to fill up the crater, the Pact was moving again.
The Chaos was within 100 feet of the Trenches when Triton gave the order to fire at will. The entire area was lit up with las fire from the Imperial Guardsmen and bolter fire from the Marines. The multiple pillboxes armed with Assault cannons, heavy bolters, and frag missile launchers opened fire. The horde was slowed to barely a halt with all the immense fire power being flung at them. Due to sheer numbers the enemy was able to progress through the slaughter. Within minutes over a thousand of the Chaos filth were dead.
At the rear of the trenches Brother Sergeant Chronus was ordering the coordinates of the Imperial mortars. He was attempting to work along side the orbital bombardment. When the Orbital cannons would cause the horde of troops to bunch together he would land several rounds right in the middle causing them to spread out and repeat the death process. He had probably over a thousand kills in conjunction with the battle barges up in space.
No matter how hard they tried the Space Marines just couldn't hold the legions of vile Chaos at bay. They had killed over 10 thousand soldiers by now but that still left approximately 5 thousand. The Pact had finally reached trench one. Bodies poured over side along with a river of blood. Triton had to order a fall back due to the bodies and blood making it impossible to fight.
Triton parried and swung with his chain sword and hacked a Pact cultist in half diagonally, Arterial blood sprayed everywhere adding to the already knee deep pool forming at the base of trench two. He heard the screech and whine of engines. He cleaved another cultist, taking its head clean off. He felt the heat of the engines. As he charged another cluster of Pact troops they erupted in a spray of blood, pus, and pulp. Triton looked up and saw a Thunderhawk gunship hovering over his area and its assault cannons firing at the enemy. The hatch opened and five assault Marines leaped out triggering their jump packs for their landing. They swept towards the battle field, plowing through any enemy in their way hacking them to shreds. Once they had cleared a safe zone they flew back up to the Thunderhawk and when they reappeared Marneus Calgar was with them. The second Marneus hit ground and discarded his temporary jump pack he strode over towards Triton.
Marneus has the demeanor of a man whose has seen every form of hell and defied it every time.
When Marneus reached Triton, Triton instantly jumped into a crisp salute.
"At Ease Captain"
"Yes Sir!"
"What's your status?"
"We have inflicted many casualties, reaching over ten thousand. We estimate there are about one thousand left using the piles of bodies as bunkers."
"Prepare your men to charge, we will remove this filth from their horrid lives. None shall survive the wrath of the Ultramarines!"
"Roger that sir!"
Triton sent out a com requesting the presence of all available Marines. Within 5 minutes 60 Space Marines stood ready. That meant that excluding the 5 with Tiber, himself, and the 5 with Chronus commanding the mortars, 30 so far in this War have been wounded or killed.
Marneus approached with another 100 Marines and 10 Terminators. They grouped up and prepared to charge. By now the heat of the battle had ceased and the only sounds were mortars and random gunfire exchanges when and enemy was spotted and tried to fight back.
Triton stood next to Marneus as Lord Calgar gave the order to charge. All 112 Marines ran forward slaughtering anything alive they came in contact with. After another half hour the charge had dwindled down to a mere search and destroy. That's when they saw it. It was massive.
The Daemon Prince lumbered out of the smoke and haze of battle. Accompanying him was 12 Chaos Space Marines. They were the most vile and horrific of all the Chaos soldiers aside from Princes and Warlords.
Triton called over to a Sergeant and handed him his bolter and chain sword. He then proceeded to unsheathe his most prized weapon that was too special to be used on the normal Chaos troopers and cultists. It was a power sword given to him by his Drill Instructor when he completed training at the head of his class and was finally a true Space Marine. He thumbed its activation rune and the sword hummed to life and the energy was visibly flowing through it. It was master crafted by the Tech Priests of Mars.
Triton along with Marneus and the ten Terminators charged the Daemon Prince and his escort. As they neared them the Terminators opened fire with their storm bolters killing 3 Chaos Marines. They were running so fast that within seconds they were too close for bolter fire. They discarded their weapons silently saying prayers that the weapon's souls would understand the need of dropping them. The Terminators drew their sacred power swords and activated them. Only 10 feet ahead stood the Daemon Prince.
The Prince was over 12 feet tall and wore black rusted disfigured armor. He had the face of someone who has been tortured all their lives and loved every minute of it. In his left hand he carried a bolter pistol and a power shield. In his right he carried the most massive power sword Triton had ever seen. It was over 4 feet long and had unholy marking all along its center. Any normal man would have gone insane at the sight of those markings.
Marneus activated his Power fists and swung at the Prince while the Terminators kept the Chaos Marines at bay. One Terminator got a little to close to the Prince and was sliced in half vertically by the Prince's sword like a hot knife through butter. Blood and innards spilled all over the ground. Marneus hit the Prince directly in the hip. It only made the Prince angrier. With the Prince distracted by Marneus Triton leaped at it and swung down. The Prince unbelievably was able to predict that and blocked the sword with his shield. By now there were only 3 Terminators alive and 2 Chaos Marines alive. The Prince turned towards Triton and fired his pistol. The bullet skimmed past Tritons head and slammed into a Chaos Marines Skull blowing his head into bits of skull and brain matter. This only infuriated the Prince to the point of no return. He lashed out with his sword at Marneus and Marneus was able to dodge the swing. Triton took advantage of this swung at the Princes head. He was able to knock the creature's helmet off exposing horned in his forehead. The Prince was swung again at the relentless Marneus. This time the hit home on Lord Calgar's shoulder plate sending the Chapter master flying.
Endimos a click away was waiting for a shot. As he watched his Captain attack the Prince he was waiting for the creature to emerge from behind a pile of rotting corpses. Suddenly a Space Marine smashed through the pile exposing the prince and his unarmored head. Now was his Chance. He aimed, waited for the reticule to turn red and he fired.
Just as Triton was about to black a devastating blow from the sword, the creatures head exploded in a shower of brain matter and unholy bone fragments. Suddenly a vortex appeared around the creature knocking Triton off his feet. The energy flew from the prince into the warp in a screaming vortex of lightning and wind. Suddenly all was quiet. He leaped onto his feet and ran towards Marneus who lay unconscious amidst a pile of bodies. Triton screams for a medic. He then smiles to himself knowing that Endimos has saved the company from most certain death. He will surely make an amazing Marine.
Sorry this took so long, Work and school make writing hard to do.
More in the works!