The Leman Russ tanks headed off to the east to set up their firing line. Their tanks had more armour and could better weather the threat posed by the knight. So they stayed where they could be seen.
The dunecrawlers went to the west and laid in wait. Vengeance 21 sayed further back, it was the one with the anti armour gun, if it was seen, the whole ambush would be for nothing.
The knight was approaching, every step it took was massive, it thundered onto the ground with force that could be felt through the legs of the Dunecrawlers. Pullo checked the monitors, he couldn't see it yet through the ruins. They were in what was a built up area, the ruins were little more than piles of rubble, but some of it was large enough to conceal the tanks.
Pullo caught sight of the knight through the ruins. It appeared to be going towards the Leman Russ tank position, just as planned. This magnificent machine was armed with a battle cannon, like the knights Pullo had fought with at Anathon.
"That's it, you've seen us," came the voice of The tank commander over the Vox.
Vengeance 12 and 18 were there to act as cover for Pullo's tank, their weapons would be little more than distractions for the massive war machine.
The knight stopped in place, and appeared to inspect the area around it. It turned and spotted one of the dunecrawlers. Without hesitation it began moving to a better firing position and began pounding the area around Vengeance 12 with its battle cannon. Vengeance 12 moved as quick as it could, strafing, and firing its phosphor cannon at the knight's head. This would be unlikely to cause any meaningful damage, but the light from the phosphor rounds might be enough to obscure its vision.
"Shit it's going for the Dunecrawlers!" shouted a voice over the vox.
Vengeance 12 replied calmly, "taking avoiding action, neutron laser is still concealed."
The dunecrawler under fire sidestepped its way out of view from Pullo's position. And Pullo's tank stayed where it was, waiting for the ideal moment.
"Give it plasma! we need to draw its fire!" said one of the Leman Russ commanders of the vox.
The plasma Cannons of the Leman Russ tanks lit up the knight. They were only using the lighter mode for their Plasma cannons, but it was still enough to get the attention of the knight. It unleashed one more volley from its battle cannon towards the Dunecrawler, then it turned to face the plasma fire from the Leman Russ line. Pullo couldn't see the dunecrawler, Vengeance 12 but could see that the burning white light from its phosphor ammunition had stopped.
"Dunecrawler down!" shouted one of the Leman Russ.
Vengeance 18 spoke over the vox, "Vengeance 21, the target is presented, get in position."
Kee moved out with the Dunecrawler, and got into a place where the target could be clearly seen.
Vengeance 18 had moved around to get closer to the Leman Russ line. Letting off little bursts of its anti air weapons, conserving its ammunition for a more suitable target later.
Pullo could see the target, the back of the knight's legs. The legs were not heavily armoured at the back and a direct hit with the Neutron Laser would be very effective.
Pullo took aim. The knight wasn't moving, and at this range, the target was easy, he couldn't miss.
The knight was raining fire on the Leman Russ tanks, they could take some hits from the battle cannon, but at that range something would give.
Pullo muttered a little prayer "Machine god forgive me this act of destruction." then pulled the trigger for the laser.
The glorious sound of the laser was furious and angry, where once it sounded like a glorious hymn to the Machine God, it sounded spiteful and full of hate. The knight's leg had been completely severed, and the hulking machine toppled to the ground.
Once the laser had fired Pullo grabbed the lever of relief and sang the canticle of soothing might. Once the small canticle was finished, he released the lever and waited for the runes to cease flashing and settle.
The sounds of battle were over, the guns were silent and the knight lay defeated. The sounds of celebration came through from the Leman Russ "Great shot, Skitarius, we got it!"
Pullo opened the hatch to get a better view of the area and the knight. Even as it lay on the ground, crippled, it was impressive and imposing. A wounded giant, if only it had the right guidance.
One of the Leman Russ tanks had been severely damaged and appeared to be smoking. Another had lost a track and was immobilised, but otherwise appeared functional. The last one appeared untouched.
The tank crews of two of the tanks jumped out of their tanks and rushed over to the smoking wreck of the third tank, maybe to rescue their comrades. The Tank commander walked over to the knight and pried open the pilot's hatch with a tool from the tank.
A loud hiss was heard and the hatch opened. Before Pullo could get a good look, the tank commander had his pistol pointed at the human pilot in the knight and simply said "Die traitor!" then shot.
Vengeance 18 and 21 walked round to Vengeance 12, it was badly damaged, it had lost its two right legs and the main gun was damaged. The gunner peered from the open hatch, he appeared to be unhurt.
"Vengeance 12, what is your status?" asked 18.
"We are imobile" came the response. "Awaiting the reclamation team."
"Understood," said 18 "we will proceed to the main objective."
"Are you just leaving?" came one of the voices from the Leman Russ tanks through the vox After he had seen the Dunecrawlers start to walk away.
"Secondary objective complete," explained 18 "moving to primary."
"We have wounded! They're trapped in The Katera!" protested the Leman Russ operator.
"Care for the machine," said 18, "the crew is replaceable. Tech priests are incoming."
"Bloody Skitarii," said the Leman Russ operator, he then severed the vox connection.
The able Dunecrawlers left the scene of the battle. Pullo looked back, trying to see if Darius had been rescued from the wreck, but his dunecrawler had lost the line of sight before he could confirm it.
The two walking tanks moved on to get closer to the Gargant, the primary target.
"Built up area ahead. there is a potential for ambush." said Kee.
Pullo held the button to talk to the other tank "prepare for ambush." He then opened the top hatch of the tank and climbed up to man the pintle mounted stubber machine gun. He could see the other ranger for Vengeance 18 do the same.
The pilots drove the dunecrawlers through the dense ruins quickly. It was unwise to stay in such a built up area for long. The potential for ambush for armoured vehicles was too high. Pullo had already lost his arm in an ork ambush, he wasn't going to give the orks anything else.
They got through to a more open area where they could better use their main weapons. Pullo and the other ranger climbed back inside their vehicles. From their new location, they could more easily see the back of the gargant. They were close enough to make a difference.
The Gargant was gigantic, it towered over the nearby ruins, Pullo was unable to see the front of the giant mech, but could hear the sounds coming from it, the huge and unorganised cacophony of guns from the front of the machine was deafening. The destruction it would bring would be great and needed to be stopped.
The main body of the giant machine would be too difficult to damage. It was ramshackle but the armour would be thick and it would be impossible to know where the orks had placed the vital machinery, so chaotic is their engineering. Pullo aimed the laser carefully at a cluster of missiles mounted on the "shoulder" of the gargant. He fired and in a blast of holy fury from a neutron laser, the missiles were destroyed.
"Praise to the Machine God!" chanted Kee from the front of the tank.
Pullo once again went through the rites of rearming, readying to take another shot at the giant.
"Flyers Incoming!" came a warning from Vengeance 18.
Pullo glanced at one of the monitors, he could see ork planes approaching in the skies, but this wasn't for him to worry about. Vengeance 18 had the anti air load-out, it was up to them to deal with this threat.
The rune of rest was green, so the laser was able to shoot again. Pullo looked up at the mighty gargant and couldn't immediately see any opportune targets. So he aimed the laser at the "head" of the giant. If there was a driver to this massive vehicle, that must be where it was.
He was about to pull the trigger for the laser when a massive explosion was heard just outside the tank. Pullo looked in the monitors and saw one of the ork planes had been destroyed and had crashed into a nearby building. The fuel from the plane had leaked out and was now burning in the rubble.
Pullo knew that orks were tough, the pilot of the plane might have survived. He climbed up to the pintle mounted machine gun again and got ready. The pilot had indeed survived, the ork tumbled out of the plane on fire and pulled a crude gun from his side. Pullo let rip with the machine gun and put the ork down. The threat was eliminated.
He climbed down and looked in the monitor on the other side and could see Vengeance 18 blazing away upwards with its array of anti aircraft weapons. It stopped and repositioned itself before watching the skies again.
Pullo checked the sights of the laser again and then pulled the trigger. Such a beautiful sound. The laser had bored through the back of the gargant's head. There was a small explosion but not much else.
This seemed to get the gargant's attention and it slowly began to turn.
Pullo said to Kee "find cover" as he pulled down on the lever of relief and began the canticle of soothing might.
Kee started to move the dunecrawler back to the ruins they came through earlier, but keeping the turret facing towards the gargant. This kept the target on sight, and the vehicles best armour facing the enemy.
The gargant's head had turned to face the dunecrawler. In place of the giant machine's right eye was a large cannon that wouldn't look out of place on a tank.
Pullo finished the canticle and released the lever of relief, and just had to watch until the runes stopped flashing and he could fire again.
On the move aiming was difficult, he could just manage to keep the sights locked onto the gargant's head. The runes stopped flashing and he pulled the trigger. The laser struck the front of the gargant's head, but with the movement the laser was unable to focus its energy and was less effective.
The gargant was able to zone in on the dunecrawler with its eye gun, then there was a blast.
Pullo was flung forwards from his seat as the dunecrawler was forced backwards he slammed his head against the wall and everything went black.