Akileus praised himself for having the foresight to equip his helmet now. The roar from his never-ceasing assault cannon would no doubt have deafened him by now.

The attack had nearly gone south when it had been revealed what the valley, cutting down through Victory Bay had been - It was the little ground that remained after the testing of an Imperator-class Titan - Or more specifically, its weapon. The thing was the ultimate defense, a buried Titan cannon separating Victory Bay by any would-be invaders through a single white-hot burst of turbolaser fire. Two Tactical Squads who were attempting to cross the valley had been reduced to smoldering corpses, their power armor barely salvagable.

"Only in war are we truly faithful. Ever onward!"

The voice of Chaplain Mikelus brought him back to reality, and he hefted his assault cannon again, and three Guardsmen vanished in a hail of devastating high-impact shells. The Chaplain himself was busy fighting a squad that had attempted to surround him, every bash of his Crozius Arcanum putting a Guardsman down. Akileus was surprised he could even find time for oratory.

Around Mikelus stood two of the Vanguard Veterans, their power swords blazing as the tide of eager Guardsmen started to halt. Eventually, it stopped, with the disillusioned and broken soldiers running away in abject terror.

Up ahead, Captain Gaius was dueling the regiment's Commissar, an old grey-haired, grizzled man with scars across his face, clad in his uniform of office, a suit of black carapace armor with a cape and hat, wielding a simple power sword. In contrast, Gaius was wearing his gilded Power Armor, his face hidden behind his helmet, and on his arm was the Fist of the Father, one of the Chapter's oldest relics, dating back to the days of Azariah Vidya, Father of the Chapter. An exceedingly rare type of weapon outside of the Grey Knights, the Fist of the Father, a bronze-and-red power fist, contained psychic amplifiers meant to increase the psychic power of a given individual wielding it. Many Librarians had complained that Gaius was the one to hold it, for he had not a sliver of psychic potential.

Though the Commissar was deft, his fighting showing years of expertise fighting things no doubt as horrific as the sight of an eight feet tall power armored giant, as well as considerable experience fighting foes with more cumbersome weapons than his, Gaius clearly had the upper hand, blocking the Commissar's strikes with the storm shield in his left hand, picked to offset the weighty and unbalanced power fist, while wearing the old man out, awaiting the moment when the Fist of the Father would deal the killing blow.

The moment came soon after when the Commissar, attempting to deal a particularly vicious stab to Gaius' chest, attempting to circumvent the Storm Shield, threw himself off-balance when the power sword hit thin air. In one vicious upward punch, Gaius ripped the man's head form his shoulders, the head proceeding to roll over into the midst of a squad of Guardsmen, prompting them to also run away in terror. Some of them started to move towards the ruined trenchline that separated the area of the Governor's base that Akileus and his First Company brothers were in from the Governor's palace, as well as his heavily entrenched Leman Russ tanks. Almost instantly, the Guardsmen were torn aparty by battle cannon fire while attempting to navigate through the trench.

While the Guardsmen were busy attempting to move up on the trench to exact harsh vengeance on the Governor-Militant, or die in the attempt, Akileus' eyes darted to his squad mates around him, all of them resting and reloading their storm bolters for a moment as the rest of the Guardsmen of Lukas Alexander's Third Platoon opted to begin a mutiny. Though none of the Terminators were harmed, their armor was blackened and scorched from the hail of las-fire and heavy stubbers.

Soon after, the Assault Terminator squad joined them, their Lightning Claws drenched in the blood of their enemies. With them came Mikelus and the two remaining Vanguard Veterans. The three others, including the sergeant, lay dead atop a mound of dead soldiers, fighting 'til the end. Akileus' eyes underneath his helmet furrowed with fury when he noticed an absent power sword from the hands of one of the Marines. The Governor-Militant would pay for this.

"Well, we did accomplish what we came for" Akileus said, presenting the facts with a tint of humor in his voice that was nonetheless distorted by his Terminator Armor. Though the Titan Cannon's firing had left them without support, they had managed to destroy the Basilisk and the heavy weapon emplacements in the area with minimal casualties.

Before anyone had a chance to answer him, the built-in vox in Akileus' helmet started generating static, and soon enough, the voice of Captain Thule could be heard:

"Brother Akileus, please respond."

"Captain Thule", Akileus immediately replied. "We have all arrived safely. The last Basilisk is destroyed. Bar our little problem with the Titan cannon, I believe it should be safe to cross now", he said, attempting to mask his unease with dry wit.

"Casualties?" came the reply.

"Brother Serathot, brother Beresul and Sergeant Gautier , Vanguard Veterans all. Both Terminator squads are at full strength, and Captain Gaius is unharmed."

"Very well. While we were attempting to establish contact with you, Captain Angelos and the Techmarines above the Litany of Fury have managed to locate the power source powering the Titan Cannon. If these maps and scans are correct, you should be strictly west of the installation. They have established a makeshift power plant using the planet's own geothermal energy to power the cannon. I need you to destroy the installation."

"It will be done, Captain Thule. However, we may need reinforcements if we're to undertake this mission. Do we have any squads in orbit?"

"Tactical Squad Tarkus and Devastator Squad Avitus have yet to be deployed. Will this suffice?"

"It...Will do, Captain Thule. Equip Avitus' squads with missile launchers. Tarkus' squad choose their own loadout."

In truth, Akileus was loath to work with Avitus. Though Avitus was a prodigal Devastator Sergeant, and it was safe to say that his promotion to the First Company would not be overlong, his aggression and deep-seated hatred of everyone who was not a Space Marine irritated Akileus to no end. He would not celebrate the day that he would have to teach Avitus how to use Tactical Dreadnought Armor.

"They will be with you in three minutes, Akileus. Captain Gaius supports your idea. Move towards the power plant as fast as you can. "

"As you say, Capta-"

Akileus was cut short by the rumbling of engines. From the south-west came three Chimaera transports, no doubt reinforcements from the power plant, sent to reinforce the company that was now in the middle of mutiny. Akileus revved his assault cannon, waiting for the transports to get in range. One good barrage would make short work of the transport.

As the Chimaeras started closing up on the Space Marines, their multilaser turrets started firing, and the air began to snap in the characteristic noise of las-shots. Wise enough to know that their las-rounds would do little to nothing against Akileus and his Terminator-armored brothers, the transports focused their limited fire on his power-armored brethren, hoping for a lucky shot.

As the rain of multilaser fire began skimming over his power armor, Captain Gaius activated his jump pack, and the Vanguard Veterans with him quickly followed suit. He was already lifting the Fist of the Father high in the air, bracing himself for impact. The impact came soon after when he landed on one of the Chimaeras, its top hatch almost coming off from the impact of a one-ton Space Marine landing on top of it. He ceremoniously lifted the Fist of the Father high into the air and brought it crashing down on the front of the transport, halting it completely in its tracks after the front half of the chassis nearly separated itself from the back half. Out of the gaping holes in the tanks came twelve Guardsmen, running away from the burning husk of their armored carrier as quickly as possible.

Akileus lifted his assault cannon now, and once more the dull rhythm of assault cannon fire and the noise of the assault cannon's several barrels firing out hundreds, if not thousands of shells a second filled his body, tempering his already calm mind. He was always in perfect clarity when firing a weapon.
Ahead, he saw the second Chimaera halt in its tracks under the overwhelming volley of shells being fired at it. Soon enough, he also began to notice the effects of his volley, as several large holes began appearing in the Chimaera's front armor, sending out wisps of smoke with ever larger frequency. Eventually, the thing seemed to halt in its tracks, stopped if not destroyed, and another squad of Guardsmen hurried out, taking cover behind what remained of their transport. Soon enough they started taking pot-shots and whatever they could see, and the whine of las-rounds returned. Though a good many shots found their mark, none of them could penetrate the heavy armor of the Terminators.

At the same time as the second Chimaera stopped, Captain Gaius and his Vanguard Veterans crashed down on the squad of Guardsmen that had fled the wrecked transport. Six of them went down when the impact landed, and three more were swept off their feet. The three remaining attempted to charge the Space Marines with their bayonets, but Captain Gaius deflected one attack with his Storm Shield before punching the Guardsman in the chest with his power fist. Soon enough, the Guardsman's body went flying back, his head flying in a parallel gory arc above its body. Besides him, one Vanguard Veteran had already finished off his quarry. The other fought a duel with the squad's sergeant. Though they exchanged blows for a long time, power sword clashing against chainsword in a shower of sparks, the chainsword eventually buckled and broke under the weight of the power weapon, and the blade broke in half. The Vanguard Veteran kicked the sergeant to the ground then, jumping on top of him to cut his throat and end it.

Meanwhile, the Assault Terminators were closing with the second Guardsmen squad out in the open, their lightning claws flashing. All of a sudden, however, a roar came overhead, and suddenly, the massive form of a Drop Pod came down on the last remaining Chimaera, sending debris and parts flying everywhere as the thing came apart in a colossal explosion. Out of the hatches soon came Tactical Squad Tarkus. Tarkus himself lead the charge, his squad banner on his back, hefting a combi-melta that soon began to reap a bloody tally amongst the only remaining Guardsmen, hiding behind their Chimaera, but in full view of Tarkus' fire. His squad followed suit, a flamer-hefting Marine taking out three Guardsmen with a brief gout of promethium before the Assault Terminators, spearheaded by Chaplain Mikelus, charged.

"NONE SHALL FIND US WANTING!" the Chaplain yelled, hefting his Crozius Arcanum to bash off the head of the first Guardsman. He barely even managed to finish his battle cry before the Terminator veterans between their heavy armor and strong arms had finished off whatever Guardsmen remained after Tarkus' bloody tally had been reaped.

"Good to see you, sergeant Tarkus." Akileus said.

Tarkus nodded. Akileus had always been impressed with the calm stoicism of Tarkus. Even before he had been promoted to Sergeant some decades ago, the Tactical Marine had a reputation for stoicism and calm. In a way, he was the perfect counterpoint to Avitus, and the two worked exceedingly well together, in spite of their differences, Tarkus' calm stoicism balancing out Avitus' bloodlust. No doubt when Avitus made the jump to the First Company, Tarkus would not be far behind.
"Avitus' drop pod will be deploying in a few minutes. There was a mishap with the Drop Pod, though the Techmarines are working as fast as they can to fix it. It should not be long."

"I see you brought the heavy weapons as well." Now that Akileus had had a better chance to look at Tarkus' squad, he saw that one of them was hefting a lascannon. The heavy weapon would no doubt be a great boon against the inevitable squadron of Leman Russ tanks. The only thing that would not have gone amiss was a melta gun, but he had let Tarkus judge, and since they did not know how much infantry they would face, Tarkus had chosen versatility.

"I did not know what we would face, so I brought heavy weapons to bear. With any hope, it will not go amiss" Tarkus said. He nodded at Captain Gaius and Mikelus as they joined them.

"It will not, Sergeant Tarkus." Mikelus said, striding forward with confidence in his step. "No matter what the enemy might bring to bear, we will overcome it. We are the Emperor's favored sons, and none shall find us wanting."

"None shall find us wanting", everyone echoed.

Akileus hefted his assault cannon once more as Captain Gaius gave the order to fall in. They would wait for Avitus and then proceed onwards to the power plant.

"None shall find us wanting", Akileus mumbled to himself, his helmet vox switched off. He contemplated the sight of the battle, the corpses of all the Guardsmen, lying in enormous pools of blood, and he lamented, once more, that this needed be done. He only hoped shutting off the power plant would make the Governor-Militant surrender. Then, at least, there'd be no more bloodshed.


Wow, that took longer than it had any right to. Hi, everyone!

I had major writer's block for a while (mediocre grades in school tend to do that, even when I know why they're mediocre), so I wrote up this chapter to try and see if I could finally get over it. This, as well as Ghost Walker, is what I've produced in the meantime. If you haven't checked out Ghost Walker (my second story here on , might be a regular thing), feel free to check it out!

I do think I have a bit of a problem with combat scenes in that they're not descriptive enough. I don't think I'll ever go to the gorn level of description, but I do think they could use a bit of improvement in the prose. darkeldar does this much better than I do, and I'll probably take a page out of his book for the next chapter.

There'll most likely be two more chapters of this before I go on to doing another Stronghold mission, probably either Necrons or Chaos. I've something special planned for Eliphas the Inheritor.

As always, criticism and commentary is -very- welcome.