URKAMUS SQUAD


Tristan's introduction to Jarn's preferred Astarte team, Urkamus squad, was as lacking in glory and glamour as the Iron Warriors history in the Great Crusade. No acknowledgement was made of his having joined them in their latest deployment, no fanfare, no ceremony, Tristan was simply inducted into their ranks as if nothing had changed at all for them.

It was not a slight against Tristan, or at least intended to be so, that his presence within the group was ignored entirely. Rather it was a simple byproduct of Urkamus not caring. While not lost to complete apathy, Urkamus simply did not care about a great many things he saw as pointless. Centuries of unending siege warfare had seen any hopes, dreams, beliefs, and other such things ground out of his soul leaving only the raw tools necessary for survival on the deadly battlefields of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. You could only survive in such conditions by shedding one's humanity as your gene-brothers died around you by the thousands, almost every single person you gained familiarity with dying to secure some tactical victory of which the greater benefits would be lost upon the soldiers dying in the dirt.

Urkamus was not always so bitter or living out of spite for those that would try and kill him, having originally come from a world that had joined the fledgling Imperium thanks to the persuasion of its Iterators who brought the Imperial Truth, logic, and reason with them. Despite the largely religious populace present on the world they were able to shift their methods of belief to be in line with those touted by the Emperor of Mankind, particularly when gospel surrounding him began to take root thanks to those such as Lorgar of the Word Bearers.

This peaceful transition of belief would only last for a short while however, as eventually factions would rise based on varying interpretations of the Imperial Truth and the Emperor's own believed divinity as proposed by some. When the disagreements came so did the religious wars which would soon embroil the entire planet, neighbors killing one another over their differing beliefs, families turning on one another, and eventually over half the world's population exterminated in mere months from the sheer brutality. Urkamus had survived it all even as his family perished, only able to endure because of something he had heard the planet's Iron Warrior garrison speak of: utopia.

Eventually the handful of Iron Warriors on the planet were able to establish control over the masses through cold brutality of their own which saw none willing to cross them, but it was in their operations that Urkamus was recruited into the ranks of the Iron Warriors and given release from the hellish landscape his world had become. It had been so long since that day that Urkamus could no longer even remember the name of his home, nor what his family looked like or how they had even died in the flames of revolution, but he had been able to move forward with the belief that some day the Iron Warriors would achieve the perfect world they sought through their possession of both strength and intellect for intelligence alone could not corral all to accept your beliefs.

The Great Crusade had seen to it that such views would not persist as unrelenting conflict and tragedy stripped all from Urkamus until he was a husk of his former self, though far more experienced for his struggles. His growing nihilism saw him remain as a sergeant even as other survivors of such conflicts advanced through the ranks, a growing weariness to his actions evident to his commanding officers who nonetheless continued to utilize the Astarte for his combat record was commendable and those with similar levels of experience were few and far between for the Iron Warriors in those days thanks to attrition.

If he had not been with Jarn at the time of the fall of Olympia he may have been persuaded to partake in it by his officers, no longer able to truly bring himself to care for faceless civilians, but through Jarn he had been given a sense of renewed purpose: to continue on with their Legion's original goals and to make a better world, a utopia in which they could all thrive. While Urkamus did not fully believe in it himself or even feasible to accomplish it was still preferable to him than walking the road of damnation his fellow Iron Warriors were beginning to tread. If it would all be meaningless he may as well choose to follow the one who more aligned with his own goals once upon a time, even if it meant fighting an uphill battle that would take countless more conflicts to truly overcome.

To some not truly caring about anything would leave them weak, but for Urkamus it had become a strength of his. On the battlefield he possessed no fear, for his own life was worth nothing to him as well along with the lives of those under his command. His stubbornness in the face of death had seen him defeat foes far more skilled than him, for the victor was not the one who was best but rather the one still standing at the end of it all. Any objective given to him by Jarn would be carried out, be it helping a Neophyte gain real battlefield experience or be it annihilating a horde of Orks. It did not matter if his heart was tired and that he merely was going through the motions expected of him, he would see to it that his orders were carried out.

Urkamus did not care, and that was to the peril of those who stood in his way.

After Urkamus was his unofficial second-in-command Grund, an Astarte who had been assigned to work with Urkamus since they joined the Warsmith's ranks. With a keen attention to detail and a noteworthy mind Grund was capable of handling the day-to-day minutiae that Urkamus could not be bothered with to maintain the squad logistically, as well as assist in formulating battle plans by offering precise information on a variety of subjects. Unlike the members of the Dodekatheon who were mostly interested in engineering and other such mechanical pursuits Grund's knowledge was more widespread and so he could always be counted on to inform those around him of anything he knew that might assist them...whether they asked for it or not.

Unlike the squad's leader Grund did at least speak to Tristan to inform him as to the specifics of their mission, going into exhaustive detail that would likely have been tuned out or ignored by someone less severe than Tristan. It was simply Tristan's nature to take in whatever information he could and process it, somewhat inoculating him against Grund's behavior unlike other more irritable Iron Warriors who just ignored him. This would prove useful for fleshing out the finer details of their operation, up to and including the name of the world Forescien which Urkamus had completely neglected to mention given that it was irrelevant what the dirt they were on was called.

Physically Grund was not particularly notable, but from Grund's explanations Tristan got the feeling that while intelligent his fellow Astarte was lacking in the outright genius possessed by the members of the Dodekatheon while still possessing a formidable intellect of his own that was nothing to scoff at. Grund was not a member of the Dodekatheon for a reason beyond those in it disliking him, but he was likely in the strata of intelligence just beneath those within it. Loathe as he was to admit it, Tristan could recognize that even Levente belonged in the Dodekatheon with his intuition and quick thinking for solving problems.
While Tristan did not ask, Grund proceeded to overshare information as he was wont to do whenever he captured someone's attention and proceeded to fill the squad's newest member in on various details about himself such as how he was from a Forge World originally and always had possessed an voracious desire for information. Tristan also gleamed from what was said that Grund's mother and father had perished like Tristan's own, though instead of being slain by the servants of the Word Bearers they died of exhaustion caused by the unreasonable work placed upon them by the local governor's decrees. Many of the Iron Warriors Tristan had met possessed something akin to this as their history, losing their family before eventually joining the ranks of the fourth Legion, and despite how cold many of them were the fact that they did not possess a home to return to after the loss of Olympia helped unite them.

Grund appeared the most emotive on the surface with expressive speech and actions but he gave little true insight into his deeper feelings, appearing even more guarded on that front than Urkamus as if his emotions were entirely repressed after years of deadly conflict. This did however leave him as a firmly logical sort of man, something that Tristan could appreciate even if he found the unnatural and even forced exuberance of Grund somewhat bothersome.

The third member of their team was one which Tristan was lightly familiar with, that being his fellow rookie Iron Warrior Helash who had led the other team during their final trial. While Tristan would have preferred to have been partnered with one of the more competent members of his own squad they had been divided throughout the ranks to best utilize their talents. Helash had managed to join the squad before Tristan thanks to 'supplemental lessons' Jarn imparted upon Tristan and Levente both after their trial, having thoroughly castigated them over their failure to maintain a single unit during the trial as the instigators behind the split. Tristan understood objectively that what he did was wrong by the book, but he also felt that it had been necessary given the circumstances.

The conclusion reached by Jarn's teaching was that the two of them should have properly established chain of command and stayed united, figuring out who was to lead in the sudden vacuum based on which of them could make the other submit to them. From there the others would follow and such their group would have been stronger and not nearly at death's edge when they were found by their veteran Iron Warrior counterparts. This spoke well to both Tristan and Levente, appealing to the might makes right philosophy of the latter while making logical sense to Tristan as if he had not forced Levente to do as he said there was no way their vastly different worldviews could have been reconciled.

Having led a team with a fair amount of success until the final night Helash was commended and ultimately was brought to Urkamus squad to further expand his talents. Compared to Urkamus it was quite obvious that Helash was new, his armor possessing a particular sheen that an Ixolotl would be drawn to and not a single mark upon it to indicate damage it had sustained. Somehow during the battle with the Beastmen and Orks Helash had remained unscathed compared to the grievous wounds of the others, and so far in his weeks with Urkamus squad he had not tarnished it. When put beside Urkamus' own repeatedly cobbled together and mended armor it showed an almost before and after diagram of an Iron Warrior's life, further enhanced by the recruit's youthful face and the grim, dour looks upon his sergeant. To look at Urkamus would make one wonder if his face possessed the capability of smiling, while such an expression would seem natural upon Helash's softer features.

While not as antagonistic as Levente it was quite obvious to Tristan that he would have a somewhat adversarial relationship with Helash. Observing or understanding social cues was beyond Tristan's personal skillset, machines and their functions being far easier to comprehend, but the enmity radiating from Helash was hard to miss. Like Tristan he was prideful in his own capabilities, skills which had been venerated by Ossus following their mission on the Beastmens' world, but now he was to share a team with one of the Warsmith's own pupils and it was natural for him to worry that any of his own accomplishments would be overshadowed by those of Tristan. Alpha Squad had been the top group amongst all initiates, being formed from the hand-picked selection of those with the greatest talent, and in training drills which saw them cross paths it was obvious that they were superior in most regards.

Helash had been quite proud in his seeming success compared to either of the Warsmith's personal pupils and had seen his joining Urkamus squad as a statement that he belonged with the best and would learn from them...only to soon thereafter see one of those very Astartes he delighted in beating for once now beside him. Whereas Tristan and Levente were notably competent in one field or another Helash was broader in his skillset yet not as individually capable in any one area, something that had allowed him to properly bring together his team whereas Tristan and Levente fractured Alpha Squad with their personal fissures and disparate beliefs.

Ultimately his opinion mattered little to Tristan so long as it did not interfere with their work, so despite the daggers being glared at him Tristan paid them no mind.

Last of the Astartes within Urkamus Squad was Brechung, whose response to Tristan's arrival was even colder than Urkamus' own: Brechung gave no indication that he knew Tristan existed, instead focused intently on sharpening his blades for whatever combat lay ahead. Whereas Urkamus did not care that they had a new member he at least demonstrated he knew Tristan was there, it just lacked any ceremony or particular scrutiny which is how Tristan preferred it. Brechung was so single-mindedly focused on his weapons that everything else seemed to have no hold on him even if his reactions to sudden noises revealed that he was keenly aware of his surroundings and ready for battle.

Originally a member of the Stor-Bezashk, Brechung had been one of the Iron Warrior's elite units and had earned a reputation as a fearsome close-combat combatant who could force his way through almost any defensive garrison placed in his way. Utterly brutal and without mercy towards anything or anyone it was quite common for him to break or otherwise damage his wargear as he sacrificed everything to inflict the most damage possible upon his foes.

Despite his brutality it was seemingly his desire for worthy combatants that saw him join the ranks of Jarn during the fall of Olympia rather than follow the orders given to him to scourge the populace for their rebellion. Point him at a military target and he would kill them to the last man no matter what it took without questioning orders or even uttering a word, but point him at civilians and there simply was no fight to be had.

Grand Battalion leader Khyr had expelled Brechung from his own ranks in the Iron Legion thanks to the sheer logistical drain Brechung brought to his siege-breaking forces, leaving the stoic brute to instead find a place with Urkamus since the Sergeant's apathy allowed him to be more accepting of irregular behavior. It did not matter to Urkamus if he had to continually requisition more equipment so long as Brechung accomplished his objectives and did as he was told.

Physically Brechung was an imposing figure, actually managing to stand about even with the Warsmith and possessing an even physique that lent itself equally towards agility, endurance, and strength. His armor was simple albeit modified Mark Three armor to cover his massive form, the plating possessing few unique characteristics other than obvious signs of having had entire sections replaced time and time again.

It was in Brechung's nature to always be ready for combat and so he was almost always armored up even during times of rest, and while it was not uncommon for Iron Warriors to wear their armor more than Astartes from other Legions for Brechung it was a second skin that he was never seen without. The only original piece of his armor left was his helmet, which while scarred superficially possessed no severe damage. If it had at some point Brechung would have perished from whatever dealt it, so it made intrinsic sense that it would be relatively untouched compared to the rest of his Power Armor.

The reason for their deployment to Forescien, a Forge World of the Mechanicum, was to provide ranged firepower support to aid in a siege of its primary structures and the cities they lay within. With communications and travel disrupted with the greater Imperium thanks to actions taken by Asier prior to their arrival the world would not receive aid until long after the Iron Warriors had departed. Existing on the outskirts of the Imperium's reach meant that Forescien had to typically rely upon itself to defend its valuable equipment and schematics, both of which were the objectives of the Iron Legion's operations there.

Given their insatiable thirst for knowledge and reverence of technological artifacts the Mechanicus forces would not simply hand over their possessions nor would those of Forescien dare destroy them to prevent them from falling into the hands of their foes. Instead they would fight to the death to protect what was theirs, and so a siege was called for to lay claim to equipment not obtainable by simple subterfuge. While the Neophytes had been undergoing their final examination the Iron Legion had been acquiring orbital docks once belonging to the Kheledakos that Jarn had poured resources during and after the Heresy into recreating. Ages had past by but they remained where he had left them hidden, none knowing of their existence and their hiding place having been where travelers would not stumble upon them in the wide expanse of space.

Replicated from the docks once belonging to the Black Judges the Iron Warriors had subjugated upon Perturabo's discovery these orbital structures were capable of being moved from one world to another or to exist entirely on their own and would serve as a mobile base of operations for the Iron Legion going forward. If his forces were to be able to defend themselves before and after they built the utopia they sought they would require and need to repair and otherwise maintain their fleet of spacecraft, so for this purpose the docks were invaluable to their needs. While lacking in the raw resources to construct additional craft the docks would allow for that when they had properly stockpiled enough.

Forescien was a piece of this greater plan in its possession of the raw equipment necessary to create various tools needed for the expansion of the Iron Warriors' forces, as while Jarn knew his men were capable he was not foolish enough to believe that they could take his homeworld by force with what little he had to start with. It took the Imperial Fists far more Astartes than what he had under his command to do battle with a single fortress on Kimara, and while he detested them Jarn knew how capable the sons of Dorn were at siegecraft. Having designed the defenses himself and noting the difficulty of Astartes in actually taking the hexagram grid of fortresses sprawled throughout Kimara it would be suicide to do battle there without orbital supremacy combined with a strong foothold on the ground.

Successfully pilfering enough supplies to undertake an operation as daunting as retaking Kimara would take decades for a small warband to accomplish without drawing the attention of the greater Imperium, but gradually grinding their way to victory was the modus operandi of the Iron Warriors and so they took to their task like fish to water. By deploying siege weapons such as Basilisks and wearing down their foes at range they traded nothing but ammunition for eventual victory as their foes did not dare charge thousands of Astartes on land and the punch of their own artillery did not match that deployed excessively by the Iron Warriors. The first targets were the Mechanicum's longest ranged defensive structures and vehicles to prevent further retaliation and mitigate overall damage incurred, crippling the world's defenses from the very start and making the outcome almost inevitable.

With enough Basilisks to field one for every squad deployed on the planet even Urkamus squad possessed one to use as needed to coordinate with the greater offensive, something which saw Tristan as the newcomer manning the deafening weapon. Thanks to his Astartes physiology he was able to carry out the grunt work he was tasked with without risk of damaging his hearing, something that would prove useful over the coming weeks and months as their operation continued. It took longer and much greater effort to shell their enemies in a way that would not risk damaging certain structures that possessed what they came to collect, and so it was with cold precision that the howl of Earthshaker shells rained down upon their targets and slowly whittled through shields and defensive measures to eventually open the pathway to victory.

It was a constant tedium of loading to fire, calculating the strike, and then carrying it out day after day but that fit Tristan's personality completely fine. Slow but assured victory was preferable in his eyes to sudden and possible victory, and if what was required to succeed was constant attrition warfare of beating down their foes day after day then that was what he would do. While he did this the others vigilantly stood guard for the occasional attempt by Imperium operatives to raid the Iron Warriors whose army sat out in rigid formation upon a large plains just within range of their target. The Mechanicus presence was beginning to crack in morale and cohesion more and more each day, their initial plans to hold out until Imperial forces arrived growing less and less tenable with each passing day.

Except for when a group of Skitarii vanguard would be deployed to try and strike them there was almost no interaction between Tristan and his foes, never truly getting the opportunity to see them given that this was a siege rather than direct conflict. It did not particularly irk him that this was the case, for unlike Levente he did not truly venerate personal combat or think it honorable even if he understood that others saw it that way. Victory was victory, and if he could kill his opponent before ever seeing them that was still a successful encounter in his book.

Days passed by like a blur on Forescien, a world which possessed much in the way of sprawling meadows and beautiful skies despite its status as a Forge World. Whatever natural forces were at play upon it made Forescien resist the smog and pollution major industrialization could bring to a planet, and if not for the world's populace being paranoid and wary of outsiders perhaps it could have possessed a minor tourism business. If not for the valuable minerals beneath its soil that could be easily used for production the planet may have become a Paradise World even such was its inherent beauty with its soft landscapes that were a natural blend of pastels.

This was completely lost upon Tristan who had taken to his new team's hobby of silently doing their job, spending what idle moments were possessed between barrages to tinker with mechanical devices Tristan had brought with him. A hastily yet expertly crafted fortress rest behind their battle lines to allow the Iron Warriors to rest and always be ready for a counterattack, as well as serving as a command center for the Warsmith to command them, and it was here that Tristan remained whenever he was not outside engaging in the wrack and ruination that the Iron Warriors were known for. He could tend to DOTS and provide the Akran water before settling in and studying schematics and blueprints to further his knowledge, even contemplating Basilisk designs given that he was now able to better understand the vehicles thanks to using them for weeks upon end in actual 'combat'.

Despite having spent months with them Tristan had not learned much at all about his new team, having instead submitted to the stoic silence they often employed while operating in the field. They did not seek him out when resting, and he did not care to do the same with them as of yet: he was just another fresh soldier in their eyes, with his status as Jarn's pupil ignored entirely by Urkamus who made no efforts to spoil or accommodate Tristan. It was just as well though, as Tristan would have resented being shown such favoritism simply because of who taught him. If he was to obtain respect he would do so through results, results he could bring all the easier if he understood every mechanical aspect of the warfare around him.


Eventually the day the Iron Warriors were waiting for came, the last of the defenses in their way shattered and the spirits of their foes broken into countless pieces as their inevitable defeat met them without mercy. As planned by Jarn the Iron Warriors deployed fire support units to suppress any defenders that may halt their advance, shelling them at range with Earthshaker cannons as well as laying down autocannon, lascannon, and heavy bolter fire with organized precision that saw the Skitarii present drowned by the weight of fire levied at them. Urkamus squad had been deployed for this purpose thanks to Urkamus being a former Iron Havoc, the sergeant callously barking orders as they slowly advanced and gunned down anything in their path across the plains between them and the city.

"Press them back!"

"Concentrate fire!"

"No mercy for the foolish!"

It was then that Tristan was finally able to point a weapon in hand at their foes, the superhuman eyesight granted to him by his implants allowing him to track his targets and open fire with the autocannon held at his side accurately despite their movement. Thanks to his size carrying an autocannon was simpler for Tristan than it was for others, as while his strength to body ratio was just like that of other Astartes he simply had more of a body to carry it with. While the autocannons possessed by the Iron Warriors did not have as much volume of fire as their heavy bolters they did possess greater strength and more effective range, allowing Tristan to pick off his foes while they still could not fire back at him with any accuracy. What shots did come his way harmlessly glanced off his Power Armor, its structure having been reinforced well beyond its initial status after the damage inflicted by the Beastmen and Orks.

Urkamus stood at the head of their squad with a heavy bolter that thanks to his centuries of experience was able to hit all his targets one after another even further than what would be considered the range such a weapon could be considered effective. With his eyes scouting out any enemy that would rise from the debris of the city's ruined exterior Urkamus was able to direct them to priority targets such as heavy weapons or plasma that could pose a risk to them. By the end of five minutes the gunfire had grown silent, no more targets remaining in the section assigned to them or any of the others assigned to other squads.

A part of Tristan felt an odd pang as he looked upon the ruin they wrought, having felt almost nothing as he slew Beastmen but now finding it unfortunate that these more Human foes had to be cut down. The Beastmen had been savages unable to be reasoned with, but these martyrs for technology and knowledge were just as unreasonable and there was no peaceful solution to be found here. Dogma could be just as dangerous as brutish ignorance, and while the Caprigors and their ilk were unlikely to ever have had a chance at civility these mixtures of flesh and metal had such a thing taken from them simply by circumstance of what world they were born upon. They were tools of the Imperium and the Cult Mechanicus, and that earned an ounce of pity from him.

Within the city there would be further defenders no doubt, but that was why a systematic plan for eliminating them section by section had been implemented. As a thousand Astartes descended upon the city so did their fellows elsewhere in other important locations on Forescien in simultaneous sieges, and in teams of five to ten they swept blocks of the cities by eliminating any and all threats before moving on to the next. Using scanning equipment they located any life signatures and while civilians were simply intimidated into compliance actual combatants were swiftly and brutally executed to both ensure security as well as further demoralize the city's inhabitants. If their wills were broken they would not throw their lives away fighting, a stark contrast to the wholesale slaughter other forces might engage in for their own whims. Ammunition spent for an important cause was an acceptable loss as they could always craft more in their forges, but firepower used on unnecessary targets was simply wasted.

Months of breaking down their foes at range had left little danger to confront in the actual city, but some resistance remained nonetheless and made its presence known by the fourth block Urkamus squad was tasked with securing. Battle automata larger than Jarn roared to life and emerged from civilian housing in the area, their Mechanicus cyborg masters having noted the Iron Warriors scanning equipment and used it against them by having their machines offline yet ready to act the moment they were called upon. In this way a sudden barrage erupted forth that had all of Urkamus squad forced into taking cover of their own, the automata using debris and the natural terrain of the buildings they emerged from to present as little of themselves as possible to those laying siege.

"Adjust positions and take cover. Selective shots only, prioritize stalling them out," Urkamus commanded bluntly, expecting complete obedience and in return commanding his men in a way that would not make them question it. Other Iron Warriors would reinforce their position within minutes if not moments, so there was no need to risk needless injury.

Before Tristan had not had reason to notice how Grund was acting as they mowed down other sources of resistance now Tristan found himself shocked that the talkative Astarte had become as robotic and methodical as the machines they were now facing. Grund had taken cover along with the others before immediately emerging back out from it as the machines moved to fire upon where they calculated he was to be. Whereas the machines shot straight through the flimsy debris he would have stood behind they completely missed him out in the open where he instantaneously blew the head off of a Techpriest tending to them. By the time the automata shifted to fire on him again he had doubled back to where he initially was to have taken cover, the debris' damage having collapsed a structure and made the cover deeper and sturdier overall than it had been before.

Helash seized upon the opportunity to unleash heavy bolter fire of his own and tore off the arm of one of the dozen automata standing in their way, though this action earned him its attention and it opened fire on the ambitious Astarte. Not so foolish as to try and take its remaining firepower head-on, Helash ducked back behind the building he was using to shield him even as more and more of it began to be shredded by the powerful shots being fired rapidly against it.

Tristan attempted to follow suit and use his autocannon against the automata distracted by Helash, but one that had locked onto Tristan shot him the moment he stepped away from his cover. The impact upon Tristan's abdomen was severe, but thanks to his armor it did not manage to actually deal any true damage. The shots immediately afterward did however knock Tristan off his feet and slam his back into a fallen structure as he attempted to open fire, instead shooting past his target as his body shifted mid-shot.

"That must have been the worst shot I have ever seen," Helash remarked to himself, only for Urkamus to instantly speak up as he exchanged fire with the Mechanicus forces.

"If you have time to fire your mouth off, then fire your weapon."

Any rebuttal or insubordination Helash might have possessed was silenced when the next moment saw Tristan climb back to his feet and lift his autocannon back up in a single movement, the heavy weapon firing two successive shots right into the machine that struck Tristan and tearing through its innards to silence its firepower. Tristan had used that moment he was down to prepare his timing and shots, and since the machines were not moving as they focused entirely upon their firing the variables for firing were simpler. By aiming at where he expected it would possess thinner armor Tristan was able to make his shots count before dragging himself back to a more defensive position. He had been shot multiple times as he stood back up and yet was able to shrug the hits off thanks to his heavy armor, something he would have to thank the Warsmith for when he next had the opportunity.

As the others all engaged the automata Brechung had been climbing through a broken building to draw closer to their foes, swapping his boltgun for the twin swords resting at his sides. Once in position he charged in towards them, leaping through a broken window display to cut down a Skitarii guarding the machines and then twist his power blades to eviscerate the side of one of the automata that was just now processing his sudden appearance. They were slow to react to things due to their programming, not being truly independent combatants but rather behemoths whose actions were heavily controlled by their (somewhat) organic masters. While they possessed devastating firepower and might this sluggishness was their primary weakness, and one which a seasoned close-combat expert could readily exploit.

By the time the first automata could swing a massive fist at him Brechung had already bisected it horizontally and moved on to a second that he instead disarmed in a literal fashion, carving through its limbs at the joints to prevent it from properly striking him even as it moved to do so. Its large form still collided with Brechung and knocked him back, but he spun on his heel and thrust both of his blades into its upper legs to tear through them where they met its body. Now lacking any limbs it fell to the ground still functioning but removed from the battle, something Tristan took note of because he might have the opportunity to recover it later for study.

"Two!"

Despite Brechung's effective dispatching of two of their machine foes Urkamus still called out to their brutish member to retreat, as the danger was too severe to continue fighting them in such close quarters, "Brechung, disengage at once!"

Intel shared over their communications lines showed that the highest concentration of remnant Mechanicus forces was in this area, having congregated together it seemed as they continued to fall back from various sections. The Iron Warriors' foes were likely to receive reinforcements before they did at this rate and breaking formation could lead to them being overwhelmed in short order, so he would rather have the machines wasting time shooting at Brechung at range than risk the Astarte being beaten down by a single lucky strike against him.

Blood lust, if it could be called that when applied to machines which possessed other types of fluids in their systems, had a grip upon Brechung however and he continued to push forward. Skitarii were on their way to further reinforce the position and he threw himself upon them, ripping them apart in a grisly display of gore and mechanical annihilation. The automata were programmed to not fire upon their allies and so went back to firing at the other four members of the team, resulting in Urkamus cursing out Brechung as eleven against five became nine against four.

Brechung's assault continued forward as he began to drift further and further away from the group to chase down fleeing Skitarii, quickly leaving the sight of his team as he contributed to their plight in his own way. Reinforcements from other streets did arrive, though by the time they did the automata had been cut down to six thanks to shots from the remaining four Astartes focusing on the same targets for assured destruction. The galvanic rifles of Skitarii were powerful, but they were not enough to supplement the loss of the automata and so slowly the battle was turning in their favor.

It was at this point that one of the massive automata found itself knocked across the street as a massive power maul slammed into its side, knocking it into its fellow automata as circuitry and oils spilled from the gaping hole opened up in its own form. Tristan recognized the form of Eirlithriad, and actually found himself relieved as Jarn and his Iron Circle finished teleporting into the thick of combat. Despite the slow speed Jarn possessed in combat his Terminator armor allowed him to rapidly insert himself where necessary during a battle, and so here he stood after reports of the enemy congregating here reached him. That his student was nearby engaged with them was irrelevant to Jarn, as this was simply where he needed to be to best aid his forces at this moment, and so not a single glance was paid to Tristan as the Warsmith began to force his way through the remaining Mechanicus forces before him.

One machine managed to stab forward with a large claw to try and impale Jarn's armor, and while successful the strike did not go deep. The impact still was enough to wound Jarn, but not so severely that he could not retaliate with a swing of his maul that ripped the cranial unit off of the automata along with part of its upper abdomen. To Tristan's surprise the Logos Secundus began to shift as the breach in its form was quickly filled, a silver-like fluid entering the gaps before solidifying.

It was not something that Jarn loudly touted, but the one 'improvement' he had made upon the armor of their Primarch was integrating pilfered Necron technology into it after conflicts he had with them. Jarn would use any advantage at his disposal to find victory so long as it did not ultimately risk his goals, and while not so gifted as to be able to create such devices on his own he could take what already existed and bend it to his needs where others would balk at the usage of Xenos artifacts. In this case integrating and modifying a Necron Phylactery to repair the Logos Secundus mid-battle and prevent him from gradually having it worn down by his foes. An underhanded and perhaps 'dishonorable' method to avoid death, it nonetheless was pragmatic and had allowed Jarn to continue his personal crusade throughout the stars for many years as unless a weapon's strike killed him outright it was unlikely to do so.

Thanks to Jarn's arrival Urkamus squad was able to open fire without needing to constantly take cover, resulting in them quickly mowing down the Skitarii present as well as the Mechanicus field commanders present here. The Warsmith demolished the remaining automata before continuing forward to push their forces onward to the crippled military base beyond, a wake of destruction existing behind his calculated insertion into the battle while the others present were left to mop up what remained. Tristan withheld his admiration for Jarn to instead focus on his objective as they gunned down any remaining Mechanicus forces, executing those wounded but not slain yet and making certain the battle automata were unable to act further.

Urkamus tried hailing Brechung while Grund saw to the automata cleanup, leaving Tristan and Helash to sweep the nearby area for other threats. Helash went to check a structure nearby while Tristan inspected the nearby civilian habitat, noticing now that in the conflict it had been damaged severely and was crumbling after the large automata they shot down crashed into it.

Upon entering Tristan heard what appeared to be someone in pain, and as he stepped through the dust kicked up by the battle he found himself before a young woman and their child. The child was only a few years old at most and was attempting to assist its mother, who had been struck by shrapnel and was struggling to move her wounded leg. It did not appear to be a fatal injury and so Tristan would have simply let them be so he could rejoin his Battle Brothers, if not for the fact that the structural damage to the building saw to it that various sections were beginning to collapse.

More specifically the ceiling between this floor and the next was about to fall.

The mother and her child screamed as their home crashed down around them, even more dust and debris being kicked up as they were to be crushed by it all...

Only that did not occur at all. Instead, after a moment they realized they were not crushed at all, but rather the ceiling was being held just above them. Further inspection revealed through the dust that an Astarte was holding it up just barely, straining himself under the weight of this piece of broken debris to keep it from collapsing down upon all three of them. Tristan had not thought when he acted, he simply did so, and as he used his back and arms to press upwards he grunted out to the civilians caught in the crossfire of their invasion.

"Go...now..."

After months of being under siege by the dreaded Iron Warriors, servants of Chaos and traitors to the Imperium, his words did not reach the woman the way they ought to have. Rather than flee she instead was shocked into terror, clutching at her child as she let out a blood-curdling shriek as an Iron Warrior loomed over her. Stories had been told of what the Iron Warriors did to their prisoners, of how they used them as fodder for battles and how they once carried the derisive title of "Corpse Grinders" for how awfully they treated mortals under their command.

To be a slave of them was to invite certain death, suffering, and untold misery...and so rather than allow themselves to be captured by this villainous figure the mother tried scrambling as far away from him as she could manage with her child in tow. Still buckling under the weight of the ceiling, Tristan was not able to call out to them as the building's damaged sections finally finished collapsing down upon them all.


It felt like only a few moments, but the impact down upon him left Tristan in a daze that saw him unable to act for an indeterminate amount of time. By the time Grund had pried broken pieces of the second floor off of him Tristan had somewhat recovered, though only just barely. Something so simple as a building falling was not enough to kill him, but the impact had exacted a toll.

When his eyes focused and he became fully aware of his surroundings Tristan noticed that right before him were the crushed and mangled bodies of the mother and child he attempted to aid. Tristan tried to make sense of what had happened as Grund shook his head at the sight.

"What? Did you believe they would accept your aid, that of a loathsome traitor? Even when we were their allies we were treated with naught but scorn, derision, and fear if we were looked at at all. Now our brethren have seen to it that we long for such treatment."

His voice was resigned, as if it was simply how things were and that there was no getting around it. While far from a believer in romanticism and that good deeds would always result in good outcomes it still stood as a shock to Tristan that despite placing him in harms way for their sake he had still terrified two innocent people into putting themselves in harm's way. His prior thoughts on the dogma servants of the Imperium possessed deepened in that moment, having seen it firsthand, though he quickly began to push the encounter aside as he forced himself to his feet and walked past Grund to exit the remainder of the building.

"The other buildings are all clear. Are you finished with one and only, knight in shining armor?" Helash commented as Tristan joined the others and Grund followed, revealing that while they had not been inside the building when it collapsed that they had seen what happened thanks to their enhanced hearing.

Tristan ignored him and instead shook the rubble off of him as he grabbed his autocannon where he left it, having only taken a bolt pistol with him inside since the autocannon would be unwieldy there. As he lifted his weapon up Urkamus placed a hand down on his shoulder less out of a sign of support and more just to gain his attention.

"You will see far worse going forward. Get used to it, or you won't live long."

While perhaps harsh it did actually help Tristan put things in perspective, and so he continued to push away the thoughts of the crushed corpses he had just witnessed. He had already walked by dozens of bloodied bodies that he had helped rip apart with heavy caliber weapons, but this had struck him in a different way that was hard for him to put into words.

There was still a battle to fight, and so they moved onward whatever the feelings they possessed.


A/N: As one might expect we will not be going over each and every day of Tristan's career, but I figured it would be a good idea to show his odd introduction to a certain peculiar team.

Hope you all enjoyed, and that you will let me know what you think in the reviews below!