Watching the unfolding battle from a distance, Jean van Horst of the Intelligence and Special Operations Agency grinned in satisfaction. She had been monitoring the war for Baal for weeks, moving from one position to next on a grav-bike that had all manner of sensor baffling installed as well as an under slung lascannon, should things get bad. Her position in a bombed out skyscraper had allowed her an unparalleled view of the engagement outside the city, where even now Marshal Smith's 1st Army was grinding down the Orks slowly but surely. Why not enjoy the battle she watched? After, it had been by her design that it had transpired in the first place.
Alliance Space had been threated mere months earlier by an ork migration/invasion/ religious event known as the WAAAGH! Seeking a solution that would solve two birds with one stone, Alliance High Command had decided to test some recently designed technology known as the Gestalt Wave Emitter, a device that mimicked the gestalt energy field generated when orks gathered in large numbers.
They had decided on a covert operation to place the device on the nearby Federation world of Baal, thereby diverting a major greenskin invasion into Alliance held systems and dealing a blow to the loathed Terrans. It was also decided by High Command to dispatch 9th Fleet to the Baal System, to take the system and engage whoever won the battle, given that the whoever the victors were, they would be weakened enough to make dispatching them relatively easy.
The gambit had been voted on in the High Council, given a go by a government that was beginning to lose its war to the Federation due to the brilliance of several of its Marshals. That one of those vaunted Marshals was personally commanding the Terran relief force rather some standard admiral or general made Operation Hammer and Anvil all the more appealing to the Political and military leaders of the Colonials. To eliminate an ork WAAAGH!, a Federal Marshal, and take the rich world of Baal and its moons in one fell swoop was something the Colonials needed . So here Agent van Horst was, waiting for the battle to conclude before making contact with her superiors to signal the attack to begin.
Her and her team had a camp in the ruined city not far from her position. They were all Colonial Special Forces, and would be the ones to seek out and assassinate Marshal Smith in the height of the battle. They had found his Command Module, and though it was well defended, a tactical nuclear weapon should be enough to take it out. Yes she thought to herself, the tide of the war against the Federation would turn here
()
Private first-class Jonathan Zhan of the 505th Light Infantry raised his Mk.7 lasrifle to his shoulder and sighted down the holographic sights, targeting reticle that matched the direction in which the weapon was aimed on the interior of his helms visor that halfway covered his face his face. He fought to control his fear, which had been hounding him since his unit was first ordered into battle. It wasn't that he was a coward, he just had never faced, never seen orks before today. To get his first look at the notorious xenos was a terrifying experience, their war cries echoing in his mind as he worked to unclench his trigger finger enough to make a shot at an ork that was careening towards him, roaring all the way, firing its huge, pistol at him as it went.
"Fire, soldier that's a goddammed order!" barked Master Sargent Jones, who laid a rough fist on Zhan's back. Zhan along with the rest of Blue Squad opened up with a mixture of lasbats and semi-automatic fire from high-caliber autoguns. The energy beams effects were devastating as they punctured the orks body , burning its internal organs as the autogun slugs jerked its body around in a mad dance. It collapsed, smoke rising from its perforated bulk. Where there's one ork… thought the Federal private
Soon his fears were confirmed as fresh war cries went up all along 505th section of the front. Greenskins charged the Federals in mass, accompanied by madly careening bikes that looks slapped together and hulking tanks that coughed thick black clouds of some from stacks mounted their chassis, cannons pointing out in all directions.
To his left he saw Green squad moving in in, one of them hefting A Dewclaw-Pattern plasma missile launcher. The infantrymen took to one knee and two seconds later, a missile erupted from its tube, arcing high into the night sky where it angled back down at incredible speeds, coming down like the hammer of God on the lead ork battlewagon. It erupted in brilliant blue plasma and red fire as wreckage exploded in every direction, scything down dozens of nearby charging orks
The Federal line opened up as one, lasblats and slugs cuttings down one alien after the other. Blue squad had deployed its Heavy bolter by then, crewed by Corporal Ibrahim and Private Deller. They began to fire in long bursts, panning the thundering weapon all across the approaching greenskins. Lascannons throughout the line took aim at the speeding bikes and buggies, several exploded as fuel tanks detonated
Several more Dewclaw launchers shot theirs missiles into the sky, targeting the battlewagon. All targeted by the missiles, were reduced to smoldering wreckage as the missiles finished their rapid decent. Then a Gargant stomped into view; the greenskin answer to Titans. Zhan could only stare in terror as it leveled huge arm –that-was-not-an -arm, rather it was a massive weapon, which fired. Zhan's visor darkened to compensate for the flash and seconds later Zhan was flying through the air with fire all around him, earth in his face and his eardrums burst open. Hed hit the ground in a heap, then the world was blackness.
