Author Note: When did the submission guidelines become so Draconian? And need to be re-accepted every freekin week?
Titans strode northward across the small continent, building up speed as the crews tested the limits of their brand new vehicles. The long gait of the [Castigator]s ate up the distance dozens of meters at a time.
Lines of tanks flanked them, some using their main guns to help level the ground, clearing a path.
In the distance the sound of ork gunfire rumbled, drawing closer.
The Eldar watched the procession from atop one of the taller manufacturing buildings.
"Shall we aid the humans in their battle against the Orks? We are their allies now."
The Farseer shook her head.
"No. This is a battle that they've sought out to test themselves, though I doubt they knew it would be at this scale. It is better they suffer a failure now and learn from it rather then overcome it with our aid and learn nothing.
Begin building the webway gates and aspect shrines as planned."
Crawling towards the coastline the Titan crews could see the flash of artillery fire and lascannons lighting up the clouds of ash, dust and steam they were kicking up.
"Titan Carapace weapons, open fire."
Turbo-Lasers and plasma weapons opened up, beams filling the air.
It was hard to tell if the added weapons fire really made a difference. Hundreds of automated weapons and thousands or even millions of Ork guns traded fire leaving not an inch of the peninsula untouched. Still the Ork warmachines, siege engines and Gargants came on, their dead filling the shallow waters and wrecked vehicles forming ramps for survivors. Ork aircraft were also dropping pieces of the Roks they'd landed on the surface earlier, now cut up to fill the approach.
Heat from weapons fire along the entire coastline was boiling the surrounding sea, leaving the air so hot as to be unlivable to any human not wearing an environment suit. The column of rising air and steam was combining with ash and smoke to form a violent thunderhead. Lightning was just starting to arc through the upper reaches of the anvil shaped cloud.
The occasional lance shot from orbit trying to find a weak point in the Ork shields broke up the clouds but only added energy to the local air currents.
The first Gargant to clear the coastal defenses and stagger it's way inland was barely functional. Craters the size of Landraiders dotted its front armour, many leaking flames. Leading Titans and several of the human tanks turned their weapons on it. Before the titanic Ork walker could make it much farther inland entire sections began to boil away from the larger weapon impacts.
As the last of its shields failed, a Plasma Annihilator shot to the Gargant's head sent it out of control. As it began to collapse a beam of light shot from the remaining half of its head, destroying two tanks and carving a trench hundreds of meters long. The dirt kicked up by the sudden excavation momentarily blocked any view of the approach.
"Titan crews, recalibrate sensors and link up with orbital targeting from our ships."
Aboard Megara Atar linked his vox to the command frequency. "Do not let up your fire! They're attempting to buy time for more Gargants to come ashore!"
"We don't want to risk friendly fire Chaplain."
The few seconds of inaction caused by the inexperienced Titan pilots allowed just what Atar was afraid of. Several Stompas and other small Gargants broke through the collapsing automated defenses. Titans opened fire once again, but they were met by fire of equal weight.
Any Terminators aboard the tanks quickly dismounted to avoid being caught aboard should their vehicles draw fire.
Atar flipped through available auspex readings being transmitted by the Titans and Terminators on the ground, looking for an option that would cut through the dust and ash. Eventually he located the ground sonar, and while it wasn't as accurate it could certainly augment the others. Most sonar contacts cluttering readings were from artillery impacts or smaller vehicles, but some were more uniform. If such a thing could really be said of Ork work.
"Large Ork contact approaching shore!" he warned.
Attempting to match targets with what he could remember of such ork vehicles, he uploaded appended ID's to the fleet's tac net. Plenty of Stompas, Kans, Deff Rolla equipped Battlewagons, several Gargants and Greater Gargants. He was in the middle of sorting out several odd impacts which seemed like artillery but were more like Titan foot impacts when we was interrupted.
"What is the largest one?" Asked Vadith pointing to a set of contacts.
The many treads working in unison could only be one thing.
"...it's a Mega Gargant!"
Warboss Oggrod Skarbad roared in glee as the Mega Gargant rumbled its way over the cratered defensive wall. His Battlewagon kept pace with it a safe distance behind where he could keep an eye on the battle and direct his forces.
Several other vehicles that made up his escort were nearby, some supporting the few remaining weirdboys whose heads hadn't exploded from the earlier display. Some of them kept up the act that Gork was still smashing and stomping his way around the battlefield. While the effects were a bit weaker than earlier with so many boyz being killed every second, it was still an added source of damage the Humies had to contend with.
Several of the Gargants had been equipped with the Gaze of Mork which also seemed to be giving the Titans pause.
Grabbing the vox the Warboss had the Meks broadcast to anyone within range.
"See dis boyz?! We'z got the stompiest, choppiest, shooty-ist WAAAGH eva' seen! Gork fer stompin' and Mork fer' tha Dakka! SHOOT! STOMP! SMASH!"
"WAAAGH!"
"Trace that Ork signal." Ordered Serth.
It didn't take long to triangulate the source of the transmission, narrowing it down to a few Ork support vehicles.
"Right. Cancel thesalvage operation, it's too dangerous to recover that Titan right now. Helm take us back to the base and prepare to pick up cargo from building 47."
The engineers back at base watched the battle with rapt attention, taking notes on how the vehicles and equipment fared.
"Implement teleport systems for the tank crews. They're more vulnerable in the larger fights and we'll need to pull them out in the event their vehicle is lost."
"Maybe an assault gun version of the Bane Star would be a good idea too."
"Mount a Turbo laser? Could work."
What they had not been prepared for was some of the Gargant weaponry. Several of their "Gaze of Mork" weapons seemed more like lasers, while the more powerful versions were closer in operation to cutting beams used aboard the Fleet's starships.
The other thing they had were melee weapons.
The crew of one Titan inadvertently found themselves in close combat with a Greater Gargant. Raising the left arm the Princeps was able to block the slash before it could impact the cockpit area. Still the Gargant didn't slow its approach as it attacked, forcing the Titan backwards.
Backpedaling momentarily the Princeps soon leaned the Titan forward, digging in it's feet.
Rapidly spinning teeth from the Ork's chain weapon slammed into armour, each impact denting the adamant plates slightly, but more importantly forcing them out of position. Plasteel bonding, meant to hold the separate plates in place and allow for easier repairs, began to shatter. Teeth of the chain weapon tore into the forming gaps and began to rip entire sections free. Each second of contact make things worse as the Ork walker tore into the compromised area.
"We're losing the left arm weaponry!"
"Full power to the right Plasma cannon."
Forcing the damaged left arm upwards the pilot brought the right arm in low and fired the Plasma Annihilator into the Gargant's belly. Twelve shots one after the other blasted into first the frontal armor then the Gargant's interior, causing more damage each time the weapon shifted as the Titans grappled. Soon the Ork vehicle's interior was an inferno, reactors and fuel stores melting down and an increasingly bright glow emanating from any crack or seam in the body's armor.
The back of the Great Gargant at last erupted outwards from its largest ammo stores and magazines, the front half crumpling forward, much of the internal machinery reduced to slag.
Once the Princeps had the Titan properly upright once again he opened a channel to the others.
"This is Angelus Destinatus, pulling back to let our weapons recharge."
The Dark age humans were putting up an adequate fight by Atar's estimation but their Titan forces were still taking damage. The Orks for their part had been quickly acclimatizing to the amount of damage the humans could put out. Despite this it wouldn't take much to force them to over extend themselves.
Most of the officers agreed that they needed to shake up the engagement, if only to buy time for whatever Captain Serth was planning.
Dorst ordered the Titans to pull back in the middle, allowing the survivors to catch any Orks that pursued them in a cross fire. All of the Titans too badly damaged to pull back in time were told to ram the nearest Gargant, activate their self destruct, then teleport the crews out.
The crew of Aurum Zapateado were not pleased with the orders. Theirs was one of the most advanced Titans built but as a result had attracted far too much attention, and damage, from the enemy.
What must have been a full strength cutting beam strike from one of the Gargants, and several of the invisible psychic punches had manged to ruin both arms and some of the motive systems. They no longer had enough speed to retreat.
But if they wanted them to ram a Gargant then the newly trained Princeps would try to make it memorable. Carapace mounted weapons directed fire into two points of the nearest Gargant's armor as Aurum built up speed.
"Void shields failing. We might need to teleport out early." Warned the engineer.
The advice was ignored. If that crazy space marine had taught them anything it was that the best defense was a good offense.
A few steps later the Gargant was within range and the Princeps stabbed both of the Titan's arms into points weakened by weapons fire. Several of the crippled weapons were sheared off and fell to the ground. The extra damage was causing enough feedback through the Titan's neural link to be painful.
"This is Aurum, preparing to teleport o- wait, Jo what are you doing?"
JoaquĆn the Titan's princeps wasn't listening, instead screaming out from pain and effort as he diverted all power reserves, lifting the damaged Gargant. Additional alarms went off and every structural weak point in the Titan buckled under the extra weight. Still he continued, with Orks and grots leaping clear of the damaged vehicle, until it was suspended in the air above the Titan's head.
A nob pointed out the Titan lifting the gargant into the air as it shifted in place and turned towards the mega gargant.
"Um, Boss? I fink we made 'em mad!"
Skarbad squinted through the smoke and ash at what the Nob was pointing to. Eyes going wide with realisation the Warboss quickly rushed over to a leaver and pulled back on it. The battlewagon's wheels suddenly reversed and the vehicle screeched to a halt then began to slowly back away. Many of the less important passengers were thrown overboard by the speed change, but the more experienced bodyguards managed to nab anyone the Warboss might have wanted to stay onboard.
Now in position the Titan threw the Gargant it had picked up, arcing it over the swarms of smaller vehicles. Smashing to the ground, the wrecked war machine still had enough speed and momentum to roll. Parts flying off in every direction it eventually crashed into the side of the Mega Gargant, crushing several of its treads and taking off an arm before the rubble pile exploded.
Looted tanks and Battlewagons too close to the blast were thrown into the air including some of the vehicle's that had been escorting the Warboss.
Lowering it power claw he'd used to shield his eyes and hat Skarbad looked over the damage. The Mega Gargant was pinned, half of its movement systems blown up and much of its armor glowing from the heat.
"Well dat ain't gud."
Taking stock he noticed that most of the weird boys had been knocked unconscious by the blast. There weren't enough awake to properly pull off a chain of attacks like before.
"Buncha panzy gits! Get tha Doc! "
"Sir, I think we've broken the Ork line!"
Serth wasn't expecting that but didn't hesitate to give the appropriate order.
"Change of plans, all Titans full counterattack. Watch your fire once Megara is on station, we're bringing in special cargo."
The landing ship swung out to the west of the battle after picking up equipment from building 47. It was taking up much of the underside of the ship and the Captain had assured the troops aboard that they would still be needed to hold off boarders as before.
"Captain I don't find this to be a sensible use of resources." pointed out the ship's AI.
"What precisely are we after?" asked Vadith. "My troops would be better suited to helping on the ground."
Megara swung in behind the heaviest fighting, aiming for a group of ground vehicles that seemed to be retreating despite swarms of Orks parting around them to reach the fight.
"We're after the Warboss."
"We would not require a void ship to carpet them with Melta and fusion bombs." Atar was quick to mention.
Shields flared and the ship shook as AA fire and Ork fighters began to take notice and attack.
"Both you and the Eldar have said that the best way to break an Ork army is to cut off the head."
As the ship swung in above the target Orks below began to scatter.
"Cargo bay, launch box one through three."
Three metal boxes with open bottoms shot out from the underside of the ship and crashed down atop a group of Orks. Ground scanners Identified a handful of very large Orks that had thrown themselves clear of the Battlewagons just before the boxes had come down.
"Retract one through three. Identify the largest Ork out of those that escaped then launch remainder."
"Preparing to launch boxes four through six."
"Wait!" Vadith called out. "We have what looks like a teleport."
Sure enough several of the largest Orks on sensors had just disappeared.
"Scanning... got them. Three kilometers North."
"They're teleporting again."
"Calculate their movement pattern."
"Didn't 'spect a buncha weedy git humies ta have that much fight in em. Now I got me a whole Waaagh to rebuild!"
This was going to take some real work. They'd need to get the new Mek to take apart a few more of the Krooza's for more Gargants.
"Boss?"
"Quiet! I'z finkin up a new plan!"
A shadow fell across the group causing Skarbad to glance upwards. The Humie lander that had attacked his battlewagon had caught up with them.
"Leg it!"
Diving out of the way the Warboss narrowly avoided having one of the metal boxes land on top of him. Spriting faster than he ever had in his life and making the occasional feint to the sides was barely enough to keep several more of the boxes from landing on him.
"Zog me! If'n I get outta this I'z gonna krump dese humies good!"
The remaining Mek, Gritknife was fiddling with a few gubbins and bitz on his Tellyporta.
"Oi, get us outta here!"
There was just enough time to reach the other Ork before the last of the metal boxes came down from above.
Not enough time for the Mek to get it working however.
"Captured. Stasis containment is active, we are retracting all boxes."
Serth exhaled.
"Helm, once they're aboard take us back to base. We'll need to get Elgar to designate building 47 as a long term containment facility until we can get a dedicated one built."
