Yamm

New Karnak

When the ramp slammed down onto the ground, Raphien was the first to march out of the storm eagle. He breathed in the damp, tropical air of another lost human world, mentally comparing the sensation to the hundreds of other worlds he'd been to before. He let those thoughts go as he breathed out, replacing them with the clarity and focus the situation on the city demands. He still has a battle to win, fellow humans that need rescuing from the xenos threat. Donning his helmet, he then accessed the advanced command functions available to his rank to get a better image of the battlefield.

"Status?" He asked, marching onwards followed closely by the four others in his command squad and Power Galatam's tactical squad.

"All assault squads of the first wave report completing assigned objectives." Master of Signals Gabrael answered, the marine consulting the cogitator built into his vambrace. "The second wave of astartes and Fellesian troops have finished deploying on the cleared landing zones." He fell silent for a moment, likely listening to messages reaching him just now. "The Fellesians deploying to close the noose are reporting light casualties as they encounter scattered xenos resistance, but Col. Helstein assures us that there won't be any significant delay at the rate they're advancing."

"Excellent." The Virtue meant it. That means the plans are proceeding very smoothly, and the hope of liberating this city quickly is becoming likely. "How are the civilians reacting to our presence?"

"Cautiously positive, Virtue of the Blade." The signal master promptly answered. "The translation programs worked wonders to reassure them of our benevolent intentions. The supplies of food and medical aid provided further reason to trust us."

"Good." Raphien nodded, observing the architecture of the buildings around them. It was rugged, meant to resist very strong weather and most structures seem to be prefabricated. Adding those facts with the general lack of decay gave the veteran marine the impression of a recently established colony only a few decades old. "Relay to all commanders: as planned, advance into the city and destroy all xenos threats. The storm eagles, fire raptors and valkyries are available for tasking."

"It will be done." He left the signals master to his duty to look towards the company's standard bearer, brother Cosino assigned to his command by the Dominion.

"Unfurl the legion's banner, brother." He ordered. They'll soon reach the shelter where the Dawnbreakers have reported a heavy presence of hostile forces in a fortified position and requested aid. "Let any human being who sees us know their salvation."

On his path he comes across the site of a battle filled with dead bodies of the xenos who dared prey on humanity, the creatures' faces twisted into that of fear recognizable to him. He crushed its face into paste and kept going, drawing his plasma pistol and drawing his sword.

"And our foes to know who will send them to oblivion."


While he'd been forced to sit on his ass behind makeshift walls in the shelter's entrance, Greb had been contacting the other band leaders and trying to know what the hells is going on. Well, he got his answers, he just didn't like the horrible succession of bad news being screamed around in the channels.

In order: the ship left on orbit did get destroyed, and now there's a mind-bogglingly gigantic ship bigger than the Destiny Ascension escorted by several dreadnoughts parked up there.

From said ships then came several pods and starships composed of several designs completely alien to any other race or group in the galaxy.

Turns out, from said pods that fell from the sky like meteors were giant humans in heavy armor who then proceeded to slaughter the other bands scattered around the city. More normal humans deployed from the starships, but then the pirates that tried to fight them off reported getting shot up by mass volleys of laser beams.

And by the way the other pirates were being killed, all those forces that attacked them are moving inwards in an ever tightening circle towards the two frigates in the captured space port. And his band and the plaza they fortified will be surrounded on three sides within minutes if he doesn't do something fast.

And the whole time Korhaak kept ordering him and any other surviving pirates to attack and delay the humans for as long as possible. Greb decided ignoring the fool's orders would be better for his continued survival and cut the comms.

"There better be progress." He demanded of his second, the lower officer knowing what he meant replying immediately.

"The makeshift moving barriers are finally getting the men closer to the bunker." Said officer glanced to the side, Greb looking in the same direction as well. There at the top of the stairs are more than a dozen wounded pirates, with more being brought up. "Although thirteen more died to the humans holding the bunker."

"We'll need the hostages." The officer's doubtful look had him growling more details. "If we'd run away earlier we'd have been caught and ambushed on the way to the ships. With hostages they'll be forced to give us a wide berth. You know how the Alliance are, just like the other forces of the Citadel: utterly unwilling to risk hostages getting killed. Bah!"

"...As you say, boss." The man still looked unconvinced of his plan, but as long as his orders are obeyed he'll let it slide. There's no way he'll let himself die on this miserable storm-wracked backwater. Just then his communicator beeped, telling him someone's trying to reach him. He quickly accepted it, the contact name telling him it's the man he put in charge of the western approach.

"Boss Greb!" The noise of cracking rifles, explosions and the screams of the dead or dying nearly drowned out the frantic man's voice. "The human reinforcements, they're here! They're also shooting handheld laser weapons at us just as the survivor said! But- tank! They brought a Pillars-forsaken tank! Kill it, kill it-!"

A large boom resounded throughout the plaza. Greb exchanged worried looks with his officers before all of them ran out at the same time, making it past the breached doors just in time to see the massive plume of smoke and fire billowing over the makeshift wall blocking off the western approach, which was made of human cars stacked together.

"Defend the walls!" He shouted aloud, shocking a few pirates out of their stunned states. "No surrender, you know the fate that awaits all of us if you do! Fight and kill the humans!"

At least he got a couple dozen other pirates as last minute reinforcements made up of the survivors of the other bands that scattered into the city during the initial landing and had the misfortune of encountering the human reinforcements.


"Power of Might Barakiel, of the Dawnbreakers." Raphien cordially greeted the Dawnbreaker as if there wasn't a battle going on ahead. "You and your cohort have done well."

"We aim to excel, Virtue of the Blade." His brother replied in kind with a nod. The two groups of space marines met on the road hidden from the xenos guarding the eastern approach behind the corner of a building, the Dawnbreakers and Raphien's command squad. "The reinforcements you sent are giving the dug in xenos one hell of a pounding."

From the Fellesian troops' comms chatter, the assault on the xenos position is going well with several near-breakthroughs. But Raphien had ordered the captain commanding the attacking Fellesian soldiers to not exploit said breakthroughs and keep the xenos occupied. That way more xenos troops will be pulled from their reserves, if any, to replace losses sustained against the Fellesians attacking the western and southern roads leading to the shelter.

"Gabrael, what's the word from the sky?" He asked, and the signals master quickly answered.

"Storm eagle sensors reveal most enemy combatants are heavily engaged on the western and southern roads." The marine replied, then transmitted live feed from overhead to Raphien and the other two Powers, the Virtue allowing the connection and studied the feed as he listened. "The enemy commander has foolishly pulled soldiers guarding the wall guarding this side to reinforce the other walls."

"Giving us an excellent opportunity to perform an Alpha-Measured-pattern assault." Power Galatam opined. "The Power of Might and his Dawbreakers as vanguard, mine and the Virtue of the Blade and my squads as sternguard and ranged support."

"Indeed Power Galatam, that is what we'll do." He nodded in acknowledgement of the much younger marine. "Ready yourselves brothers. We will attack now. The xenos have yet to breach the shelter judging by the lack of human hostages and shields, but we have delayed long enough. The main objective is securing the shelter brothers."

He drew his sword, a Blade of Perdition he named Furious Edge granted to him upon attaining his title, and nodded at Barakiel. "Lead the way brother. And the time just so happens to the dawn in this world."

The Dawnbreaker nodded back with his power spear raised in salute, before turning about and jogging around the corner followed by his ten man strong cohort. The roars of activated jump packs immediately followed after, and right after Raphien waved his sword foward and ran after them.

"Follow me, Blood Angels!" He quickly rounded the corner and began running towards the makeshift wall one hundred and fifty meters away, which was quickly engulfed by small but nonetheless deadly explosions from the Dawnbreaker's grenade launchers. Behind him follow his command squad and Galatam's, and together they are quickly getting closer to the wall.

It was at this time that they saw the Dawnbreakers descending behind the wall, no doubt busy sending the xenos troops to whatever hells awaited them in death. Despite the incredible threat presented by an enemy behind their wall Raphien saw six aliens getting up onto the wall, aim their guns and started shooting at the astartes.

Raphien shifted himself to present most of his left pauldron facing the xenos, and held up his left arm in front of his head to provide extra protection. The xenos' bullets reached them quickly, several shots initially impacting on the road or flying by the Virtue, but they adjusted quickly and now his armour is taking damage. The projectiles possessed vague similarities with Eldar shurikens in flight, of solid rounds hitting him in scattered groupings, though the damage they deal are much lesser and with a much reduced rate of fire: every hit left deep scratches or holes of very small sizes compared to the shurikens burrying deep into the ceramite. Virtue's assessment is that these xenos' weapons are almost as effective as lasguns against space marines, dangerous only in massed volleys.

"Return fire!" He then ordered, drawing his plasma pistol and aimed at his target, highlighted by his auto-senses and a targetting reticule connected to his weapon soon appearing on its face. He depressed the trigger, and his plasma pistol spat superheated matter that quickly crossed the distance to the target, the xenos' head and upper body disappearing in an explosion of extreme heat with the power of a small sun.

Its two comrades who stood on either side of it had a second to look shocked at the steaming corpse, before they in turn were slain by his brothers, bolt rounds killing them in two shots each. The remaining three shared their fate quickly, and soon enough the space marines reached the wall. It was only five and a half meters tall, barely an obstacle as Raphien jumped and vaulted over the top onto the small platform covered in xenos corpses. That position gave him a good vantage point over the plaza, and after a good look around he turned to the signals master to give new orders.

"Gabrael, tell Cpt. Johensen he now has permission to take or destroy the walls." He spoke, the signals master nodding along while tapping on his cogitator. Raphien's command squad formed around him while Galatam led his tactical squad down the wall and helped the Dawnbreakers in killing the few surviving xenos running towards the shelter entrance.. "No need to hold back now."

"Message relayed... the captain acknowledges your order." The signals master nodded in satisfaction, closing the cover on the cogitator and drawing his bolter. In the distance the sounds of combat noticeably intensified shortly afterwards.

"Excellent, now we'll advance." He turned away, dropping down onto the plaza and walking forwards. He pointed his sword at the shelter then the walls as he gave orders through their vox-link. "Power Galatam, your squad will join mine in clearing the shelter of xenos."

"Understood, we're with you Virtue of the Blade." He and his squad formed around Raphien's squad.

"Power Barakiel, you'll aid the Fellesians in clearing the walls."

"None will survive!" The Dawnbreakers wasted no time rocketing back up into the sky, arcing towards the

"Let us end this, brothers!" Corino punctuated his remark by striking the ground with the end of the Legion banner.

"To the shelter!" Raphien led the way forward, he and the marines following him running forward at speeds that would leave the fastest athlete sprinters in the dust and was soon less than a hundred meters from the shelter entrance, which the space marines can see was breached with a makeshift metal barrier blocking the way.

"They've breached the shelter! Shoot the barricade!" The Virtue shouted, firing several shots into the barricade. The others promptly did as ordered, firing several rounds of their own so that when they reached the entrance the barrier was a blasted wreck so weakened that Raphien managed to charge straight through and get inside. He was also immediately met with enemy fire, the weapons fire of the xenos creaming in their guttural tongue hitting him from multiple directions. He treated their attacks with the deserved attention: none at all, and blasted away as he charged.

"For the Great Angel!" He roared, turning two xenos on the left into superheated corpses with his plasma pistol and, with Furious Edge, sliced one more and the rifle it tried to defend itself with into two pieces and another he neatly decapitated as he passed them by.

"For the Emperor and Sanguinius! DEATH!" From behind him his brothers came as well, adding their firepower to the slaughter as they killed many more out of reach of the Virtue's blade.

There, he thought, noticing the xenos with noticeably better maintained armor shove another of its kind forward, kill the leader and the lesser troops will lose morale and greatly reduce coordination. He killed four more who tried to stop him with gun and blade, now only a few steps from reaching his target when, to his alarm, the xeno started glowing a deep blue and a mass of blue and white light began gathering in its hand.

"Beware, psyker!" He shouted a warning to his brothers before he had to roll forward to dodge when the xeno threw the ball of psychic power at him. One must always be careful when fighting psykers, because you can never be sure what horrible effects attacks such as that could be-

"What the- brother I am floating here!" Raphien dared look back for just a second, and saw one of the tactical marines being forced upward by the mass of psychic energy that was thrown at them, and besides making the marine an easier target to hit, that was it apparently. So he turned back to the xenos psyker just in time to watch it disappear down the stairs, leaving behind its three very shaken subordinates to the mercy of fourteen angry astartes advancing quickly towards them and him in melee range.

"Hmph." He stood up from the crouch he'd been and marched up to them, uncaring as they opened fire on him to no effect. "Your kind has been... disappointing."

The middle one fearfully screamed at him something in their disgusting language, dropping its now smoking gun and raising its hands in a sign of surrender. Seeing that gesture prompted the memory of encountering a number of human corpses left to rot on his way here, slain by these wretched invaders. And so without hesitation he raised his crackling power sword and swung.

Three more xenos corpses fell to the ground in pieces, the Virtue marching past them as he whispered with contempt.

"Your kind deserve no mercy."