Harry nodded and braced himself for landing, then the shock of it came and the next second the drop pod opened and he rolled out of it, already aiming his bolt rifle at the first Tyranid Warrior that showed in his sight. He pressed the trigger and seconds later the head of the beast turned to mist and ichor splattered all over the ground. Then Harry briefly looked up and he could see hundreds more of drop pods pass through the atmosphere on their way to their landing zones.
He noticed a small group of Gaunts charge at him and only smiled before pulling out a frag grenade and hurling it at them. The small device exploded in the midst of them, ripping some into small chunks and bits that were almost unrecognizable and those on the outside of the pack were less injured, but still almost dead and most died when bolts hit them.
"Landing zone... secure," Harry said as he cleaved a lictor that tried to jump onto him, only to meet the massive power axe. The corpse fell onto the ground in two pieces and Harry then turned to look at his Pack Leader. "Orders?"
"Join up with the Ultramarines," Leif Bloody Axe said as his famous twin power axes dripped with the blood of Tyranids unfortunate enough to meet him. "They should be somewhere here."
Harry nodded and looked around, his eyes scanning the landscape and looking for the blue and white of the Ultramarines, two colors that should easy to find on the bloody fields of Baal. In the distance were visible companies of the Blood Angels and their successors slowly pushing towards the ridge and then as Harry looked the other way he noticed flashes of blue and white and gold in the literal sea of chitin.
"Seems like they have their hands full," one of the Einherjar said and Harry sent a questionable look his way. "Almost buried in the sea of chitin and unable to push back."
"They called for support," Bloody Axe said and Harry bit down on response to the comment as he didn't want to get leader mad at him. "So we will help them. Sven, when our Hellblasters will land?"
"Should about now," Sven said, he was a bulky Marine with a massive thunder hammer.
The second he said those words several drop pods slammed into the ground and out of them emerged Hellblasters and Long Fangs with a variety of heavy weapons ready to bring destruction upon the enemies of Mankind.
"I want you to suppress the enemy and take out the biggest beasts," Leif said and the Long Fangs nodded. "The moment my pack charges, I want them under fire and unable to notice us."
"Of course, My Lord," one of the Hellblasters said, hauling his Plasma Incinerator and pointing in the direction of the enemy. "You will have it."
Leif ferally smiled and then indicated the crowd of beasts swarming below and roared. "For Russ and the Allfather!"
The moment he said those words the Wolf Guard broke into charge down the slope, ground shaking under them as they ran towards the horde of the Tyranids, over their heads soaring bolts of superheated plasma, streaks of bolter rounds and missiles. Wolf-like, feral howls were heard as with each second they were getting closer and closer to the enemy that didn't notice them coming.
Harry let out a roar, wind and roars of battle, screams of dying, roars of fighting, blades carving flesh and bolters barking, howling in his ears, smell of battle filling his nostrils and making him even more excited as the adrenaline coursed through his veins as he smelled blood being spilled, blades carving flesh and the ever familiar smell of oils and unguents used for conservation of weaponry. And then the moment of the crash came, the wave of the Wolf Guard crashed into the mass of the Tyranids, easily trampling dozens of smaller under their armored forms and scything dozens before they knew someone was upon them.
The blades flashed and quickly got covered in the foul ichor of the xenos before once again burying in the bodies of Tyranids and killing even more. Wolf Guard, especially Einherjar unleashed upon the enemy and let loose were a terrible sight to see, most of them veterans of hundreds of campaigns and warriors that served their lord for decades, if not centuries and were masters of almost every way of war. Their fury and rage tightly controlled and used against their enemies in a way that made their natural ferocity and brutal strength of Astartes even more fearsome. If the Tyranids were any other species they would have broken and be routed the very moment the charge carved a bloody path through their lines. However not feeling any emotions, not even panic saved them, at least for a moment, as instead of running away they turned around and started to try to fight back the wave of warriors coming for them.
Harry swang his axe and cut down several Gaunts before throwing his head back and laughing, this was what he needed after a period of complete inactivity. His wolf spirit was roaring and laughing in glee, its desire for violence and aggression wholly embraced and unleashed by Harry as he scythed down mindless drone after mindless drone. Each step bringing him closer and closer to the Ultramarines who seemed to be pushing back the tide of Tyranids.
o-0-o
A bright beam of light appeared in the middle of the biggest concentration of the Tyranids and the moment it was gone in its place stood several Shadow Wardens, armored in Tartaros Terminator armor and armed with a variety of weapons, five Custodians under command of Constantine Valdor and between them the Primarch of the Nineteenth Legion, Corvus Corax.
Their arrival caused confusion both in the ranks of the soldiers loyal to the Imperium and the Tyranid beasts, however the confusion changed to joy on the Imperial side when Corax and his group hurled themselves at the enemies. A Carnifex that found itself on the path of Corax didn't manage to land a single strike before the Raven Lord jumped into the air and severed the head of the beast from the rest of its body, his massive lightning claws crackling with energy as he soared through the air.
Harry shook his head, lowered his axe and stepped forwards. Gaunts of the bladed variety were splattered, splashed and smeared as Harry began to walk through the veritable sea of chitin, his axe carving wide arcs and not even stopping for a second. He was almost there, his Space Wolf armor so smeared in gore and ichor that if he were a normal Marine the Blood Angels most likely would claim him as theirs. Then the sea of chitin and Marines exploded as suddenly two monstrosities erupted from the ground.
Leif and the Heresy Era Wolves stopped in shock as they looked at whatever that was that crawled out of the soil of Baal. "By the Allfather! What is that?!"
Harry held out his hand and received a Plasma Incinerator "That Brother Leif is a Trygon...Allfather preserve us! They're the Twin Storms! Two Trygons that are far too valuable to this fleet...Long story these things build up bioelectricity and discharge it. They've got their names for the colours of the lightning...Torias Telion, you may have Old One Eye...But I, I have the Twin Storms."
"Torias Telion?" Asked Leif, as the pack formed up around the first Primaris of the Space Wolves.
"A Scout Master of the Ultramarines...A Master Sniper and brawler of whom I cannot think of a single brother in the current Space Wolves who can beat him in a fight. Old One Eye is a Carnifex, that thing that resembles a Land Raider. Telion alone supposedly killed it, but rumours of its demise are still in discussion."
Leif nodded "Brother, worry not if you kill these things. You have your own Saga already worth remembering. First Terran to be made a Space Wolf since the original intake of recruits, the First Space Wolf Primaris, the Restorer of Two Primarchs...We Space Wolves are proud. No one can take those triumphs from you...Let us kill these Storms, we cannot allow the line of Roboute to have all the good kills now, can we? FOR RUSS! FOR THE ALLFATHER!" Leif thundered as howls echoed in the wake of his warcry.
However, it was Harald's cry, booming over the vox and to the dazed and recovering marines "FOR THE WOLF TIME!" With that they charged, Harry pulled his bolt rifle and as they ran. The pack began to pepper the two Trygons with bolter and plasma shots. The plasma rounds sizzled and scorched, bolt rifle charges plinked, plonked and exploded. They were doing damage but it was superficial.
Then on one of the Trygons, spires one by one began to glow. Then on them appeared a bright, beautiful violet light as ozone began to sizzle and suddenly lavender electricity forked off the Trygon and it scythed across the ground. Jumping from Gaunt to Gaunt like snakes heading towards the oncoming Marines. Whether the lightning was too unfocused or bounced to many times, it merely staggered the charge of the Space Wolves.
Vox channels opened and frantic orders were shouted between the three chapters as they began to concentrate on the Trygon. "Blades! Blades! Blades!" Ordered Leif as he drew his twin axes. The Space Wolves pulled out power and chain axes from their magnetically held positions on their backs. Whereas the Primaris reached for knives that even a Marine would argue a sword. "BRING IT DOWN! BRING IT DOWN!"
The thirty marines charged it. Axes chopping, knives slashing and great scales were peeled away. Revealing the fleshy insides. Unfortunately, as fast as they chopped the armour regrew. Harry snarled, yanked his axe free, unclipped a Krak grenade and shoved it into a freshly made wound. The blast tore a great chunk of flesh out of the Trygon and it roared. Harry's helmet had been taken off at some point and shower of ichor and fleshy insides of the beast washed over his head."I've got this. Distract the other one." With that he ran, jumped and then managed to regain a foothold on the healing wounds.
Harry swore in Fenrisian as his hands, knees and feet got stuck in the rapidly regenerating chitin. There was a sucking, squelching sound which was drowned out by the screeching Trygon as he began to climb up the beast. Harry dragged himself up and then noticed the smallest spine begin to glow. He reached down and pulled out his Absolver Bolt Pistol. He was no marksman but his aim was true. The slight electrical field around the spire shattered, discharging the electricity off and across the body "The spines hold the electricity! SHOOT THE SPIRES! SHOOT THE SPIRES! DISRUPT THE SPIRES! DISRUPT THE DISCHARGE!"
On the ground Lukas Svenson, one of the Hellblasters nodded "Target the other Trygon. Hit the spires. Apparently the spires hold and conduct the charge, the actual body of the Trygon cannot hold the potency." Leif nodded and passed the order as he watched the young Wolf Guard climb.
"He is definitely a Wolf Guard. No one's that fucking insane. Telion whoever you are...You've got nothing on this."
Harry swore as he chucked a frag grenade. This one he had over cooked. He had disrupted the charge but not broken the spire enough. He swung himself up and grabbed one of the spires. He looked up, he was about eight spires from the top. By the Emperor this thing was massive, he really should have thought about this more before foolishly charging and then climbing.
He swung himself up, using two combat knives to do so. This time, he moved too slowly as a discharge erupted through three of the spires. The spires he happened to be the closest one. "That hurt!" He growled to himself as he slowly pulled his way to the top. He suddenly had to cling on as he felt the thing, turn. Harry tucked himself deep as the Trygon rolled across the ground, send a wave of electricity sparking across the floor trying to dislodge the pest on it.
The Trygon knew it was in trouble and was now launching wide area effects of lightning and electricity. Thankfully it hadn't killed any Marines yet. But several of them looked like they had seen better days. The synaptic control the Trygons had over the beings in front of them had faltered slightly and the creatures watched instead of fighting and were mercilessly cut down. Harry stabbed into the heavily muscled neck of the Trygon and swung himself around. He gulped as several spires appeared from the throat, his knife was stuck in one and all of them began to glow.
Harry grabbed the first grenade he could, it happened to be a Shock Grenade. One that was designed to stun enemies allowing Reivers to get close and do it relatively safely. Harry pulled it to his teeth, unpinned it and chucked it. The Trygon hissed at him and caught the grenade in its mouth. "Boom!" Harry growled, he was deafened by the shriek of agony, the quadrilateral mouth flaring open, the Trygon jerking around. Harry grabbed his Incinerator, brought it up, fumbled with a switch and held the charge button. The Incinerator began to glow from brightish blue to an incandescent white, then there was a shrieking and warning sound. Harry swore violently as the Incinerator began to heat up the ceramite of his armor. With one hand wrapped tight on the dagger, one hand on the incinerator, braced to his hip. Fingers blistering, Harry pointed the weapon into the mouth of the beast and roared. "Say Ahh!" And pulled the trigger.
Harry's eyes were temporarily blinded. But he certainly felt it, the dispersion of heat as a star-white blast of supercharged plasma roared straight through the mouth of the Trygon and into the head of the other. The Trygons capitualiated, writhing and shrieking or at least trying to. Harry was flung around like a doll, his finger holding down the fire button and the Incinerator bucking, burning and belching ever increasing in temperatures massive melta-bomb esque orbs of plasma all of which slammed through the heads, vaporising the brain of the Trygons before they collapsed.
Harry hit the ground, and then there was a deafening crunch as he felt something crack as he lay in the baking sun, trapped beneath a Trygon. Meanwhile the score of Genestealers and the uncountable amount of gaunt's dissolved onto one another in an orgy or carnage and cannibalism. "Brother Sven? Is it dead?" Leif asked. A singular shot of an incinerator followed by the emptying of six Absolver Pistols reached his ears.
"If it wasn't...It is now."
o-0-o
Logan Grimnar stood on top of a Land Raider and looked at the battlefield, the Legion of the Damned was gone weeks ago, but the blow struck by them was still visible and the Thirteenth Company remained behind. A thing that made him very happy as several hundred more blades was a thing he didn't mind.
"Wolf King is coming," Jarl Bulveye said, his snow white mane and beard covered in splotches of blood and now in more rusty than white color. "I can feel him close."
Logan struck down a Lictor that somehow slipped past all the fighters and tried its luck in killing the Great Wolf and then glanced at the sky where a flotilla of Stormbirds was visible accompanied by Thunderhawks and Fire Raptors that strafed the Tyranids and protected bigger crafts. "I can see him too," he said and then diverted his gaze to the battle. "Ragnar, launch the counter attack, now," he said into the vox and momentarily heard confirmation from one of the more bloodthirsty Wolf Lords.
A wave of Blood Claws and Wolf Guard supported by the Thunderwolf Cavalry, Vanguard Veterans of the Ultramarines and Sanguinary Guard of the Blood Angels flowed like a river from their hidden positions close to the fortress and slammed into the Tyranid lines. The initial shock of the charge was enough to gain several dozen square meters of ground and then the Whirlwinds, Long Fangs and Basilisks that arrived with the Ultramarines along with fortress guns roared and punched numerous holes in the formations. Scattering Carnifexes that were moving to stop the charge and disrupting the lines of Gaunts and Warriors.
"Great Wolf, can we attack?" Harald Deathwolf asked as he tightly held the reins of his Thunderwolf, around him even more riders of those fearsome beasts. "Ragnar will get all the glory of the day."
Logan only looked at the Wolf Lord who quickly diverted his gaze, like a scolded pup, and then the Great Wolf looked at the Lord Commander Dante. "Time for the next part of our plan, they're busy enough with Ragnar and his attack."
Dante only nodded and several of his own companies that were held in reserve moved forward, bulwark of Terminator clad Veterans at the front assisted by the Baal Predators and behind them dozens of squads of normal Marines with bolters and chain weapons. While the Wolves were like a violent tsunami wave that came and washed over everything on its path, Blood Angels were more methodical. Treads of their tanks and soles of their boots crunching the ground meter by meter as they walked forward, their bolsters firing in controlled bursts and tanks destroying any larger concentrations of Tyranids.
o-0-o
As the Blood Angels and there successor chapters rushed out of their hiding spots. Boots pounding as they rushed to support the new arrivals. Jumpacks burned and tire tracks spun as they rushed out of the fortress of the Blood Angels. However, in most families there is always one branch or one person that bucks the conventional trend. The ones who bucked the trend of the Blood Angels were the Sons of "Flesh Tearer" Amit, Captain of the 5th Company of the Blood Angels Legion and First Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers.
The moment Dante issued the orders to advance, Gabriel Seth, Guardian of Rage, Custodian of the Wrathful Heart of Sanguinius and current Master of the Flesh Tearers had his remaining three hundred battle brothers board the rhinos and the Gunships and ordered them into the fray. "We're the Blade of the Legion remember. Or do you cross the Lord Redeemer?" Seth snarled before parting from a few of his other Chapter Masters.
Over a closed Vox channel, unbeknownst Dante had it tapped Seth spoke to his surviving brethren "For the Emperor, For the Primarch! May our Death be our Salvation! Death, Duty, Honour!"
"Death to the enemy. Duty is to the Imperium. Honour Sanguinius! Honour Amit! For they are the best of us!" Seth smiled beneath his helmet, this...this would be the turning point. For the Flesh Tearers to be remembered as either butchers or errant sons doing the right thing, the noble thing.
"We have been dealt a shit hand Flesh Tearers, but this shit hand it is ours."
o-0-o
Stormbirds slowed down and their assault ramps slammed open letting out a wave of warriors in Terminator Armors, most of them carried a wide variety of close combat weapons, however there were two common traits most of them shared. An aura of experience and ferocity in combat, as well as massive pelts of wolves adorning their plates. They walked down onto the scorched soil of Baal and once seeing that there were no immediate dangers they fanned out, forming a loose circle and then Russ joined them. His massive form dwarfing even his chosen warriors in their Terminator armors.
"So this is the scorched hell of a planet that Sanguinius called home," Russ said, his gaze slipping over the scorched ground, burned out wrecks of vehicles, piles of corpses and a very hard to mistake for anything else a command post of the Space Wolves and Blood Angels. Even harder to mistake was the sudden burst of frantic activity when they noticed who walked out of the Stormbirds.
Russ waved at his bodyguards, made his way across the ground covered in ichor of xeno and hundreds of their corpses to the largest cluster of Space Wolves and Blood Angels. Most of whom started to kneel and bow in front of him the moment he approached their position. "Off your knees," he barked and the Marines looked between each other. "Better tell me who's in charge here, and fast."
"I am, my lord," a grey haired son of his in a Terminator plate and with a band of warriors close by. "I am Great Wolf, Logan Grimnar, my lord, and I was here in command."
"I have heard about you," Russ said and then indicated the holographic projection of the local area. "What's the status, Great Wolf?"
"We are pushing them and winning the ground," Grimnar said and then indicated a large ridge growing behind the fortress. "Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines took six companies of his and attacked there, he succeeded, but then was cut off."
"I know," Russ said. "They called for help and some of the warriors that came with me deployed there. As well as my shadow loving brother and golden warriors of father."
"Good," Grimnar said and then sent a look at the golden warrior to his side. "Opinions, Lord Commander?"
"We can capitalize on it," the Lord Commander said and then quickly added with a look sent at Russ. "I'm Lord Commander Dante of the Blood Angels, if we send a fast attack force we can link up to them and establish a connection."
"Do it," Russ growled and then indicated two large prongs separating from the main bulk of loyal forces on the map. "And those are?"
"Counter attacks," Grimnar said. "One led by Ragnar Blackmane, second by Gabriel Seth of the Flesh Tearers."
"They will be cut off, call Hrafnkel and tell them to drop Raven Guard on the intersection of their path," Russ ordered and then looked around. "And find someone to launch third attack, directly between the two."
"I can do it, my lord," a ferally looking Space Wolf mounting a massive wolf said. "I'm a Wolf Lord, Harald Deathwolf and my company is ready."
"Do it," Russ said and then his gaze focused on Grimnar as Deathwolf rode away. "Send in your great company and command, I want someone able to control their temper."
"Of course, my lord," Grimnar said and reached for his axe.
"No, wait, I need your knowledge," Russ said and glanced at his bodyguards. "Death Howl, take half of the Einherjar and keep an eye on Deathwolf and add your firepower."
Varangyr nodded and walked away like a giant phalanx of black giants walking to war, which was true, yet filled nearby Marines and Guardsmen with hope as they knew their chances of survival increased, a lot. Then Russ wholly focused on the battle and started to bark out a stream of orders for various groups of troops that were scattered over thousands of square kilometers. While he wasn't a genius of strategy like his brother, Roboute Guilliman he was still a demigod and possessed vast amounts of knowledge, intelligence and experience. All of which he now applied to winning the battle and turning the tide in their favor.
o-0-o
Harry felt something try to cut through the carcass that was laying on top of him and groaning he slowly tried to push it up and off himself. A thing that would have been a futile one, if not for the rather substantial amounts of psychic powers awaiting his command. He called as much of it as he could muster and slowly moved the carcass off his body and used this moment to pull himself somewhat free. He let out a labored breath as he freed his head from below the beast and was able to freely breath and get some fresh air. It seemed that the carcass moving and something trying to make its way from below it and several Marines in the colors of Ultramarines approached him, their weapons pointed at the corpses and him.
"Get me out from below that thing," Harry spat angrily. "I can only do so much on my own and you better help me."
The Marines looked between each other and after a harsh order from one of the Sergeants, a red helmet on his head, they started to cut through the carcass with chainswords and power swords a long and unpleasant task, but by the end of it Harry simply lifted the last chunk of the flesh off himself and stood up. Streams of gore and blood dripping down his armor and making it look like if he was a Blood Angel, only the feral expression on his face and a wild mane of hair suggest something else.
"Where are the Space Wolves?" he growled, reaching for his axe and activating the power field to clean it off the worst gore. "Speak, now."
"Who are you to order us around?" a Sergeant asked and Harry bared his fangs in anger.
"Sergeant Learchus, control your tongue," someone said and the voice sounded familiar in Harry's ears, yet he couldn't instantly assign it to a person. "And tell the Wolf Guard where are his brothers."
Harry chuckled when he saw the Sergeant pale when his captain brought him down and then reminded him of the pecking order. "Of course," Learchus said and then indicated a nearby ridge. "They went in that direction."
Harry nodded in thanks and broke into a run, his boots trampling the remains of Tyranids that covered the ground and then he reached the top of the ridge before looking down its slope and easily noticing his pack fending off scores of Gaunts and Warriors. Letting out a furious howl he charged down and crashed into the front ranks of the Warriors and almost carelessly sliced off a talon of a Warrior that tried to stab the Pack Leader. Then with the next strike he drove the axe into the chest of the same xeno and brought it down.
"Good that you finally joined us," Leif said. "We couldn't have waited for you any longer and someone needed to take care of those Gaunts."
"And the Wolves cannot miss a chance to blood their blades and need to fight at every opportunity," Harry said with a grin as he fired his pistol at a Gaunt that was too close for him to comfortably stop it with an axe.
"Aye," Leif grinned as his twin axes carved in half a particularly brutish and large Warrior that seemed to also possess some kind of synapse control over lesser beasts. The moment the synapse died, lesser creatures around it started a frenzied orgy of self-destruction, killing themselves faster than the Space Wolves could hope to.
o-0-o
Corax sliced off the arms of a Warrior that leaped at him and then kicked back the bleeding body before jumping into the air, his jetpack coming alive as he flew towards the command post of the Ultramarines. He landed on top of a Carnifex trying to reach it and drove his claws deep into the body of the beast, flesh, chitin and blood sizzling as they came in contact with the electricity covering the deadly weapons. He let the beast charge right to the command post and then he jumped off it and with a single swing of his hand separated the head from the rest of the body.
The moment he landed on the ground he let out a sigh of annoyance at the sight of the Marines kneeling in front of him. "Get back to fighting," he softly said and then moved past them and towards the chapter master of the Ultramarines. "Where do you need help?"
"Eastern flank, my lord," Calgar said and Corax nodded in understanding before sending a quick look to the east where some truly monstrous creatures were slowly pushing back the Ultramarines. "We cannot stop those Titans and there is probably a Hive Tyrant leading them all."
"Hive Tyrant is one of those synapse things?" Corax asked, remembering all of the data he read about the Tyranids.
"Aye, usually is accompanied by Hive Guard and we cannot really combat them."
Corax nodded and then with the roar of the engines disappeared into the air, flying towards his new destination and easily noticing the problem, right before a part of it was simply vaporized by a plasma blast. He sent a look in the direction from where it came and noticed a Reaver Titan flanked by a pair of Warlords leave their transports and blast away enemy troops. "Finally they deployed those Titans," Corax said and then added quietly. "In the times of the Crusade they would have landed with the first wave."
o-0-o
As the night came most of the fighting died down and all that was to be done was to hunt down the few remaining Tyranids on the ground and ensure none managed to survive. To this task were deployed scores of patrols on bikes, jetbikes that were pulled out of the armories of the Hrafnkel, Land Speeders, Ironstriders and Dunecrawlers supported by several Thunderhawks full of Vanguard and Sternguard Veterans, as well as some Wolf Guard ready to leap into the fray.
At the same time all of the leaders of the forces on the planet, as well as their most trusted advisors and retinues gathered in the Great Hall of the Fortress of Baal to discuss the future and in many cases greet the two returned Primarchs.