Chapter 4

Hive Defense

By the time the Tarsonian 734th and the Brass Hawks 2nd company arrived at the hive city know as Decapolis, the capital of the planet. A fierce battle was raging in which 24 PDF and 6 Imperial Guard regiments were fighting an innumerable amount of the foul Tyranids. There was a constant sound of gunfire as the Thunder Hawks drew closer to the city's landing pads. As they came closer the more frightened some of the less experienced men felt. None of them had ever fought a battle of this magnitude. As the gunships landed behind Imperial lines the troopers saw for themselves the sheer number of men the city brought to the fight. In this particular area, over 20 thousand men stood shoulder-to-shoulder, firing las rifles, auto cannons, and hell-guns into the see of crimson that was the Tryanids. Behind the infantry was the armor. There were rows and rows of Leman Russ Main Battle Tanks and several groups of mobile artillery called Basilisks.

Together, the troopers of the Tarsonian 734th and the Space Marines of the Brass Hawks Chapter disembarked from their Thunder Hawks and joined the battle. Banks and Wolfe were standing next to a squad of massive Terminators. These Space Marines in their massive armor could take on armies at once, and they were there next to a squad of Storm Troopers. Commissar Federov was with McClau and his Command squad, firing wildly into the see of Tryanids. The sounds were deafening, with the inhuman screams of the foul xenos and the firing of the M.B.T.'s (Main Battle Tanks) massive turret mounted cannons. The Thunder Hawks also contributed to the fight, they were dropping fuel air bombs and other high explosive charges that were meant to support infantry. But even though the Imperials had all this firepower, it looked as if they were going to be over run. No amount of tactics could save them, it was down to who would run out of troops and ammo first. There was also no retreat, and the price of failure was death. There was no-where to run to and nowhere to hide, the Tryanids had the hive city surrounded, and there appeared to be no hope of reinforcements.

The Tyranids on the other hand, had an almost never-ending supply of Warriors, Termagaunts, Hormagaunts, and Genestealers. Also, swarms of Gargoyles were keeping the Thunder Hawks on their toes, shooting strange ichors at them at every possible opportunity.

Even the mighty Space Marines with their power armor, were having a hard time against this vast amount of Tyranids. They all lined up in their Tactical, Devastator, and Terminator squads, and gave hell to the Tyranids. Also the lances of blue energy that shot out of the Librarian's staff killed many Tyranids at a time, but they were replaced by even more. The Predator Annihilators fired long beams of white-hot lasers from their las Cannons, as the Vindicators fired shells from its massive Demolisher Cannon. The Whirlwind tank was assisting the Basilisks with their long-range missile launchers, and the 2nd company Dreadnought Fired away with its Assault Cannons, and annihilated any Tyranids that came near with its Las Cannon.

All though the Imperials had a massive amount of firepower, the battle wasn't going well. All the regiments were already taking heavy casualties and many forward positions were being over run. Banks, Wolfe, and their Storm Trooper squads remained at their position along side the Terminators, firing their weapons almost constantly firing. A Gargoyle was about to chop the head off one of the Terminators, when Banks blew the retched beast out of the sky, and that Terminator returned the favor by crushing the head of a Genestealer that was about to turn Banks's face into a bloody mass on the ground. Banks wondered how long till reinforcements came if any.

McClau sliced a Tyranid Warrior in half, and its carcass fell to the ground crushing a group of Termagaunts. He then jumped into the air and killed a Gargoyle, and threw its carcass back into the swarm that it spawned from. Federov was nearby firing his bolt pistol rapidly. Soon he ran out of ammo and drew his Chainsword, and like the Space Marine Captain, he too sliced and diced any Tyranids that came near him.

"How many are there," a nearby guardsman yelled, as he fired his las rifle, on full auto.

"When they are all dead, you can find out," Federov replied as the teeth of the Chainsword chewed their way through the body of a Hormagaunt.

Lord General Cathers sat in his office, issuing orders and trying to figure out how a force of this size could not defeat the Tyranids. He watched his hololith, but the image was always the same, a see of Tyranids being shot at by the defenders. He noticed the forces were about to be over run, so he voxed all the Commanding Officers and said, "Fall back. Get to the defensive wall. Artillery cover them as long as possible, use the Earth Shakers!"

Banks heard the Lord General's orders, and began walking backwards firing steadily. The Terminators did the same, and other guardsmen fell back as well, but also fixed bayonets.

"Bayonets, are you guys nuts," Banks yelled at a sergeant.

"Commissar's orders," he responded.

"If you go in with bayonets, you're going to get yourself killed. Now get those las-guns on full auto and start spraying."

The guardsmen did as they were told, and started spraying. Then Banks heard the high-pitched screams of Earth Shaker Artillery Shells hurdling to the ground. There was a deafening explosion and another and another.

"Sergeant," Banks said to the Terminator next to him, "They are putting up a barrage, this is out chance to get behind the wall."

"We will be fine," the massive Terminator said calmly. "We can take care of ourselves out here."

"Then my squad is staying to. You guys will be over whelmed if you are out here alone."

"You are very brave my friend."

"Thanks, now we will have excellent cover if we get to that trench over there," Banks said pointing to the trench.

The Storm Troopers and Terminators ran towards the trench, and jumped in only to find other guardsmen that refused to leave their post, most of them were PDF defending their homes.

McClau saw the trench the Terminators were in, so he grabbed Federov by the collar and carried him over to the trench.

"What are you doing, we could stay and fight," Federov yelled.

"You must live to fight on, and if we stayed we'd both be dead," McClau said. "Now take command of the guardsmen here and I'll assist you with my marines."

Federov ordered for the guardsmen to fix bayonets and prepare to fire. The Tyranids were busy destroying the outer defenses, and were about 400 meters away.

"Fire on my mark," Federov yelled to the guardsmen in the trench, as the Tyranids began charging towards them.

"Steady, steady!" he yelled as the Tyranids came closer.

"Fire!" yelled Commissar Federov, as a wave of lasers and bolts flew towards the Tyranids from the trenches and the defensive walls. The affect was devastating. Tryanid after Tryanid fell, and a huge pile of bodies began to accumulate as the defenders continued to fire. McClau noticed if all the other forces followed suite that they would be able to push back the foul Xenos. He voxed all the other commanders and told them what was needed to be done.

Lord General Cathers saw what was happening on the battlefield, the defenders were pushing back the Tyranids. He couldn't believe it; he thought the battle was lost. Right then and there he decided that Commissar Federov deserved a promotion. Now, all he needed to do was to see if Federov would survive the battle.

"Ready," Federov yelled, "Push, take back the ground you lost. Storm Troopers up front."

The forces charged into the fray firing wildly, shooting away at everything in sight and stabbing everything else with their bayonets. From the skies it seemed as if waves of guardsmen were charging into the Tyranid ranks, and winning too. They were retaking much of the ground they lost, and soon were in their original trenches killing all who opposed them.

"By the Emperor," Sgt. Fernandez yelled from his tactical squad's trench, "To the west. Reinforcements, it's a whole armored regiment."

A Regiment from the Steel Legion of Armageddon had arrived, with seven armored companies each with twenty Leman Russ M.B.T.'s and five Baneblade Super Heavy Tanks. The tanks fired away at the Tyranids making huge holes in their ranks. They were caught by complete surprise. Cornered between two enemies the Tyranids on the western front were annihilated with frightening swiftness. The Steel Legion then proceeded around the edge of the city destroying anything that opposed the Emperor.

With the combined effort of all eight Imperial Guard Regiments, the PDF, and the Space Marines, the battle for Decapolis seemed with in grasp. Lord General Cathers received a vox from the Brass Hawks Battle Barge, the Black Hawk. It said that they were going to proceed with orbital bombardment of the Tyranid forces further than 70 Kilometers from the city. When the bombardment began, the defenders finished off the remaining Tyranids, and the battle was over. The Imperials were victorious, but at a terrible price. About one third of the PDF regiments were killed, and each of the guard regiments took about a company's worth of casualties. The Space Marines lost two entire squads, a Predator, and a Vindicator.

Lord General Cathers walked out of the main gate of the city towards Federov's position. The Commissar was talking to one of his subordinates when the Cathers walked up to him. Federov saw him and gave a crisp salute.

"At ease," Cathers said returning the salute. "I need to talk to you, will you walk with me."

"Yes sir," Federov said as he began walking besides the Lord General.

"That was quite a show you put on back there, Nikolai."

"Thank you sir."

"Please call me Will."

"Thank you Will," Federov said awkwardly.

"The use of all the forces around you, has won you favor with the troops. Both PDF and Imperial Guard. Even the Space Marines call you a man of honor and courage."

"Really."

"Yes, all of the men respect you more than me, and I'm the Lord General."

"I guess so," Federov said with a chuckle.

"I have seen you ability to command and follow orders. I've seen your skill. For that I commend you. That is all Colonel-Commissar."

"But I'm just a Commissar," Federov said confused.

"I Lord General William Cathers promote you to Colonel-Commissar, with all the rights and responsibilities of that rank. You will be in command of all the Guard Regiments on the planet. You will answer to me and me only, unless there is someone of higher rank, but you still must come through me first. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Good now, why are you still standing here, get back to work."

Federov went back to his subordinates, and continued issuing orders for the new defensive plans of the city. After a few hours Federov noticed something flying towards the city in the distance. It was a heavily armed Thunder Hawk, but it wasn't from the Brass Hawks chapter, or any other space marine chapter Federov had seen before. Then, he saw the large shape of the letter I. A member of the Inquisition was there. Federov headed back to the inner part of the city to meet with the Lord General and the Inquisitor.