The Hammer-blow

Epistolary Raven stood in the Teleportarium of the Strike Cruiser "Vengeance from on High" and relaxed his mind. Around him were gathered the members of the squad of Terminators that Commander Helios' battle-plan called for, their Lightening claws and Thunder Hammers destined to strike at the strongest part of the battle line in a tactic Helios had called the Hammer-blow

The Librarian turned his head and regarded the troops that would be under his command for this battle. Each wore a massive suit of the Legions oldest armour, and on the right shoulder a huge stone amulet in the shape of a skull and cross. Raven had heard that later suits of terminator armour now carried the tiniest flecks of the Emperors armour embedded in the Talisman. These suits did not, the White Swords had been absent from the centre of the Imperium for too long for them to have received such symbols. Indeed in almost ten thousand years, the White Swords had kept to the edges of the Imperium, performing the duties laid down to them by the Emperor, uncomplaining. Indeed it was only in the last millennium that certain parts of the Imperium had begun clandestine contact, and even these did not know the truth of what the White Swords were. Raven sighed to himself, one day Guilliman and the sons of Ultramar would pay for the crimes wrought on the White Swords, but that day was not today other enemies concerned them on this day.

"Librarian are you well?" the voice of Sergeant Ascen drew him back and he turned to face the ebony skinned marine.

"I am well Sergeant, I was caught in a reverie for a moment is all" Raven said.

"Do not drift off into the Empyrean Librarian, I believe we may have some excitement for you yet" the Sergeants grin told Raven that he was being mocked, but he crossed to the tactical display none the less, as the looked down upon the battlefield which they would be joining late.

On the surface of Talaross IV the war had developed in an unusual fashion. The flow of Tyranids to the surface had been stopped by the destruction of the living ships that the White Swords had found in orbit. However the arm of the Hive fleet was still extending in this direction, drawn by a a huge secret population of Genestealer Hybrids and a well entrenched cult venerating them. Worse still the planetary governor was in league with them throwing the PDF into the teeth of the very warriors who had come to defend their planet. His propaganda told that the Eldar had come to steal the world away from the Imperium, and that the White Swords were traitor marines in the pay of the Xenos.

Captain Helios had heard such things said of the White Swords before, and each and every time the perpetrators of the lie had learned a hard lesson. The Legion was loyal to the Imperium that had forsaken it, and it was because of this Helios had resolved to break the back of the rebellion as swiftly and brutally as he could. Moreover he had refused the aid of the Eldar in this, the PDF were still human, and despite the fact that the people issuing their orders had turned their back on the Emperor, they were still warriors of the Imperium. Although their commanders were corrupt, the PDF were doing what they believed was their duty and they deserved to meet their deaths at the hands of the Emperors Angels.

Which is what brought them to this juncture, to this place. The Outskirts of the main city of Talaross IV, Sheersong. Most of the civilians had already fled, at least those not members of the Cult of the Many Limbed Lord and the White Swords had used their Whirlwinds to bombard the area for most of the previous day. The forces of the PDF deployed there were forced to abandon buildings they had fortified as they collapsed into ruins around their ears. Now amongst the wreckage Helios had located the highest Commander still alive in the field, and had resolved to break this strong-point as a lesson to the other PDF, and a warning to their corrupted commanders.

The Swords had deployed into arc encompassing the buildings of a farm and it's outbuildings, with the end of their line being anchored in a Cetrine orchard. Across an area of hilly ground were the forces of the PDF, already dug in their simple entrenchments giving them a feeling of safety that belied their actual predicament. Scanning the Lines Helios could see the Lord Commander which was his target, he had made his command post in a relatively intact Power generator, and was using his central position to allow him to effectively command his left and right wings. To the Left of this position Helios could see two large PDF infantry units, and to the right of him there seemed to be another commander surrounded by a mob of troops being kept under only a modicum of control by a peak capped commissar. Some of the PDF it seemed were not so keen to face the Space Marines in battle. To the right of this group were a group of entrenched Las cannon teams, they would need to be dealt with as soon as possible if the Razorbacks of his force, and the Vindicators were to operate without danger.

It would be somewhat more difficult however as the weapon teams were guarded by a trio of armoured sentinels to their rear, and deployed in the ruins to their right were another two units of infantry led by a command squad.

Helios scanned the battlefield once more from the roof of his command razorback. Where were the tanks of the PDF? In previous engagement they had used their heavy armour to great effect. Then finally he spotted them, in the far right of the field well covered by camo netting stood what he believed was an Earth-shaker cannon, and in front of it a squat tank possibly some form of Chimera variant. Finally just behind the Commanders generator command post Helios could see that something lurked, most likely a Leman Russ he decided as he dropped from the roof of the Razorback and moved over to his troops.

By contrast his force seemed tiny given the weight of numbers arrayed against him, Two units of Tactical marines that had already split into heavy weapons and assault teams, a pair of Razorbacks, and the two Vindicator Tanks. Helios approached the two sergeants who drew them self to attention as he reached them.

The Two sergeants were as different as could be. Sergeant Kallos sported the bright red hair and ritual scars of his Feral world birth, while Sergeant Greene was a swarthy dark haired warrior from one of the more advanced worlds close to the holdings of the White Swords. Both however were veterans, and Kallos and his men were considered the best tank hunters in the White Swords second chapter.

"Are we ready?" Helios himself was from the same world as Greene, and his soft voice still carried the accents of his home world despite the three centuries that had passed since he had last set foot upon it.

"Aye we are, ready and willing. The traitors will gain a great lesson on what it is to turn their back on the Emperor" Kallos' voice was harsh, he had suffered a terrible wound on his home planet at the fangs of some great canid beast before his induction and it had never fully healed.

"A shame so many have been lured from the light of the Emperor." Greene added.

Helios nodded, "I intend to give them one more chance to see the error of their ways. I sincerely hope that they take it"

Helios gave a command through the Vox net and shortly the roar of an Aquila landers engines could be heard overhead as it ripped down from the strike cruisers above. The lander had been extensively modified and on it's sides it carried huge Voxcasters, through which Helios' voice now carried across the whole battlefield.

"Your leaders have turned their face from the Emperor. They are leading you into rebellion against your rightful Lord. Throw down your weapons and you will not be harmed, refuse and you will be destroyed."

Obviously his words had reached a few of the conscripted men in the middle of the field as they began to argue until the Commissar nearby killed one with a bolt round through the head reducing the others to sullen silence. No other units seemed to waver however and Helios was about to order the Aquila back to the Cruiser when as one the Las cannon teams fired into it. The ship detonated in a blinding flare scattering debris across the field, as Kallos growled his anger.

"Waste of a Pilot that, I'll take it out of their hides, firing on an unarmed vessel." he spat on the ground.

"Waste of a Servitor in point of fact", Helios responded, "Given their lies I expected they would not observe the rules of war. However while they were watching the Aquila I believe our scouts have moved into position"

"Scouts? What Scouts?" the feral worlder looked about himself.

"The Scouts that will bring our Hammer-blow to the enemy, come let us prepare for battle."

Helios and Greene headed towards their Razorback leaving Kallos to return to his own, with a confused look upon his face,

On the right hand side of the battlefield Scout Sergeant Elphas eased his way from cover, and motioning to the Aspirants of his squad moved to the cover of a section of the downed Aquila lander. Using the smoke from the wreckage to cover their movements they dived into the lee of a broken wing piece and unlimbered their Sniper rifles. Elphas turned to Aspirant Marcus as he began to unlimber parts from his pack and slot them together.

"The Librarian will need that Locator up and calibrated Aspirant... Do it quickly" Elphas said and was rewarded with a nod from the Aspirant.

Looking up Elphas spotted some of the command squad on the hill beginning to order their men forward to check the wreckage, with swift hand signals he ordered two of the other Aspirants to open fire, dropping two of the command squad with easy precision. The Commanders were made of stern stuff however and instead of ducking for cover ordered the troops forward as he spoke urgently to his Vox operator. The White Swords had claimed the first real kills on the field, and Elphas hoped that this would continue.

In the centre of the Vindicators opened fire at the same time, the twin booms echoing from the ruins. One had targeted the Commissar keeping the conscripted men in check, and a direct hit reduced him and the majority of his command squad to pieces of bloody cloth and little else, some of the Conscripts were also killed and this proved more than enough to persuade them that their cause was not just, they turned to flee followed by a single member of the command squad who had avoided being killed by the blast. The second Vindicator however overshot it's target, and rather than hitting the Las cannon teams blasted the Sentinels. One was wrecked and a second exploded in a bright orange flare of fire, the third meanwhile staggered drunkenly away heading towards cover.

Under the cover of the Vindicators guns the White Swords burst into motion, Greene's Las cannon toting squad running to gain the cover of the ill fated Aquila landers cockpit while his Razorback carried him and Captain Helios far to the left of the guard line, it's smoke launchers belching thick acrid smoke and adding to the pall that already hung low over the field. Helios watched through the view ports confirming his suspicions that a Leman Russ was parked behind the Command centre. His target however was the far left of the Guard line, from there he would roll their line up. Kallos' Razorback however roared into the open ground in the centre of the field trusting to it's speed and the black smoke of it's own smoke launchers to protect it. In the Orchard Kallos' heavy weapon team secreted themselves amongst the gnarled trees, Brother Gendry readying his multi-melta for the slaughter to come.

The Command team in the power generator had obviously been stunned by the destruction wrought by the twin blasts of the Vindicators and the response from the PDF was sporadic. The troops opened fire with their heavy weapons, the troops on the far left firing their heavy bolters at Captain Helios' razorback. It was not until the Russ added it's battle-cannon to the weight of fire however that the venerable tank was struck. Helios was thrown the length of the crew compartment as a part of the track cover was blown clean away. The Techmarine driving the tank slammed the controls sideways bringing the skidding tank in to stop behind a low hedge.

"I'm not sure the Tank can go on sir, I'll see what I can do" the Techmarine shouted as he started heading out of the drivers hatch to examine the damage.

"Do what you can Marine" Helios responded and then turning to Sergeant Greene, "I think we are on foot from here"

With that the Marines piled out of the side hatch and rushed into the cover of a nearby hill, avoiding the probing fire of the Leman Russ' heavy bolters. Just as they reached the cover one of the heavy calibre shells hit Captain Helios blowing a huge chunk of his shoulder guard away and causing him to stumble. Despite the thick red blood pumping from the hole however he charged on into the cover of the hill, and then paused a moment to push Armour Gel into the hole from a pouch on his belt. As the ceramite hardened he raised his head to survey the distance to the enemy.

In the centre of the battlefield the two large units of troops began moving desperate to get out of the line of sight of the vindicators. The PDF troopers sprinted into the cover of the ruins, followed closely by the last remaining Sentinel, as the Las cannon teams opened fire on one of the Vindicators. The violent beams of light smashed into the front of the tank, but the armour of the tank proved up to the task and the cannons succeeded only in leaving three melted patches on the glacis armour of the Vindicator that had destroyed the Sentinels. Then with a colossal boom the Earth-shaker cannon opened fire lobbing a shell high in the air towards the other Vindicator. Even the armour of a Space Marine tank could not hope to stand against such an huge explosive round, however the PDF had obviously never had to fire the weapon in anger and the round fell short, detonating instead amongst the wreckage of the Aquila lander. The explosion flung parts of the crashed vehicle away from the blast and two of Sergeant Greene's las cannon squad were killed as a huge stanchion heavier than even an Astartes could lift was thrown through the air like a blade of grass and smashed into them. The Command squad in the generator also added their fire but their fire was undisciplined as they attempted to bring the other units under control.

Far away on the right of the Field the Scouts worked quickly to slot together the parts of the Teleport beacon, before the enemy closed the distance on them. Sergeant Elphas raised his head once more to see the Commissar who the scouts had fired upon previously ordering a gun line forward into the smoke of the downed Aquila He raised his Sniper rifle to his eye, sighting on the centre of the traitors cap. Exhaling slowly he began to squeeze the trigger, only to have his aim spoiled as Aspirant Bellus smashed into his back, moments before a huge gout of flame washed over the wing of the Lander under which they were sheltering.

"Thank you Aspirant" Elphas told the Scout who had saved him a painful death, "Work quickly scouts we cannot hope to take out that Behemoth on our own"

As the Gout of flame subsided, Elphas risked a look over the wing, confirming his belief that they were under attack by some form of PDF vehicle. Through the smoke of the downed lander, now thickened by the pall of burning Promethium he could see the bulk of a PDF Hell-hound pushing it's way through the wreckage before them. However before he could take in any more details he was forced to duck his head to avoid a fusillade of las bolts from the infantry. The Scouts were trapped, unable to move from their cover by the Hell-hound, very soon that cover would be worthless against the approaching infantry.

High above in the Teleportarium of the "Vengeance from on high" the legio techpriests continued their ministrations to the Ancient machine as Raven and the other Terminators knelt at the centre of the of the machines machinery. The techpriests ministrations filled the air with chanting and the smell of incense, and Raven was once again struck by the theatrical trappings of what was effectively the activation of a complex piece of machinery. The White Swords, as commanded by their Father, had turned their backs on Religion in favour of the Imperial Truth. To worship the Emperor as a god was a crime, he himself had decreed it and the Word Bearers were laid low when they forgot this commandment. Yet the White Swords continued to serve faithfully with their Allies of the Legio Mortuus Oblivio, despite their reverence for the Omnissiah.

Realising he was once again falling into a reverie Raven took hold of himself and looked about him. The Magos of the Teleportarium, the Venerable Aschelon was intoning a prayer over the calibration engine, however at the same time his mechadendrites swayed and circled the machine making minute alterations to the sensitive machinery. To his right Sergeant Ascen had replaced the helmet of his terminator armour, and was busy flexing his wrists, causing the power field sheathed lightening claws attached to his gauntlets to move in a complex interlinked pattern before him. It seemed even the Marines of the White Swords were not immune to the call of ritual as Raven had seen the sergeant perform the same exercise before every battle he had ever taken part in. Indeed Brother Lina's constant adjustment of the grip of his Thunder-hammer, and the sound of Brother Tallis tapping an unpowered lightening claw against his armours stone amulet were all little rituals in their own right. With a note of surprise Raven realised that he had once again begun cycling psychic power through the reactive crystals in his force sword, calling the Green aura that could cut clean through the hull of a tank into being before letting the power dissipate once more.

The Venerable Aschelon completed his deliberations and moved to a different piece of machinery. The terminators waited for the signal that would unleash them.

Under the storm of fire coming from the Infantry groups in front of him Helios and Greene's squad made their way around the side of the hill, careful to keep the hill between them and the heavier guns of the Leman Russ. With a brief command through the Voxnet Helios called one of the Vindicators to redirect it's fire, pummelling the two units the other side of the hill with explosions from the shells of the Demolisher cannon. Bodies and parts of bodies were thrown into the air by the explosion and when the smoke cleared there were very few of the unit closest to the generator building left alive. Using his Autosenses to pierce the gloom, Helios was gratified to see that the Heavy bolter had been knocked askew on it's tripod and the firing team slumped over their weapon perfectly still. The Leman Russ however was undamaged, shielded from the Vindicators guns by the building. Suddenly to Helios' right came the blast of the Las cannon amongst the wreckage of the Aquila lander and smoke poured from the side of the tank. At first Helios could not see how the marine had made the shot and then realised that he had fired through the windows of the generator building, hitting the tank on the other side through a gap no more than two feet across. However the Vindicator was soon silenced as the Earth-shaker spoke once more and scored a direct hit on the Demolisher cannon, snapping the barrel in half and crushing the mounting. The Tank was still operational, but with it's main armament gone, far less of a danger.

Further across the battlefield the Razorback of Kallos' squad continued rushing across the open ground. Bereft of it's covering smoke screen and as the other vindicator pushed it's way into the ruins, the razorback made a tempting target for the PDF Las cannon teams. Their weapons scored great gouges in the armour of the tank, blinding the sensors of the Heavy bolters but causing very little actual damage. Kallos' squad continued their headlong charge towards the Generator building and the Leman Russ behind it.

In the ruins on the right of the battlefield the PDF infantry continued to advance followed by the Sentinel, thinking themselves safe from the destruction that had been wrought on the Command squad and the conscripts. Their commander formed them into a neat gun line, and then ordered them to open fire on the tank hunters crouched amongst the Cetrine tree's of the orchard. The storm of lasgun fire was replied to by the squads multi-melta and a score of boltgun rounds. The Marines were more accurate, but the weight of fire from the PDF began to tell as first one then another marine were struck down by lucky shots. Sensing the advantage, the commander waved the Sentinel forward to engage as well. Its far heavier multilaser struck one of the marines in the chest blowing most of it away. However his advantage did not last very long as one of the walls of the ruins bowed inwards and then collapsed revealing the blunt nose of the Vindicator. It's cannon roared once, decimating the squad and the commander leading it. Then it began to adjust it's aim to destroy the sentinel as the vehicle desperately back pedalled to get out of the Line of sight.

By the wing of the Aquila launcher things had gone from bad to worse for Sergeant Elphas' squad. The Hell-hound was slowly grinding it's way across the wreckage seeking for a shot from which they could not use the wing as cover, punctuating it's progress with gouts of burning acrid promethium. Aspirant Marcus was gone, caught by a blast of the flaming liquid as he attempted to set up the Teleport Homer. Aspirant Bellus worked on it now as the other Aspirants gave covering fire from their rifles to try and buy him enough time to complete his work. Elphas however saw that the Infantry was now able to fire down into their cover. Calling to the other Aspirants, and leaving Bellus to work he moved out of cover and calmly began to draw the fire of the approaching Squads. Elphas could see the sneer on the Commissars face as he ordered the squads to open fire on the exposed sergeant and the Aspirants. The storm of las fire reached out to the marines who calmly chose targets and fired. Elphas blew the head of the Commissar from his shoulders before a las blast hit him square in the face. The sergeant felt agony, but then fell into blessed blackness.

Behind him Bellus completed assembling the teleport homer and it began transmitting it's coordinates. Snatching up his bolt pistol he dived out of his cover shooting the commander of the approaching squad in his chest dropping him instantly. The Scout began to close the distance to the squad in huge strides of his legs, his enhanced physique closing the distance easily. As he readied his combat knife however a searing heat passed over him as the Hell-hound pushed through the last piece of debris and unleashed a gout of flame directly at him. As the scout fell it ground on further, crushing the homer beneath it's tracks. As it rolled forward however suddenly an actinic white blast erupted from the Orchard, smashing into the side armour of the tank and causing it to explode in a shower of metal and burning promethium.

High above the Magos reported "Partial Co-ordinates and then cut off Brother Librarian"

"Good enough" Raven responded, as a huge static charge began to gather around him and the other terminators raising emperors fire from the points of their weapons. “Send us on our way Magos”

As the Techpriest continued his ministrations to the machine, the static charge rising and rising until Raven felt pain across his exposed skin. Then there was a feeling of dislocation and then he found himself and the other terminators stood on the battlefield. Static discharges crawled along the edges of the cindered grass, a large area had been burned into the ground where they had appeared. Raven was shocked to find himself in front of a Las cannon weapon team, who were even more shocked at the appearance of the Terminators. They reflexively fired their weapons, las bolts splashing off the terminators thick armour before Sergeant Ascen swept his lightening claws through the barrels of the cannons. Drawing upon the power of his Ancestors Raven swept his Force sword through the warriors before him, as the other terminators fell upon the PDF troopers. Raven looked around himself, the terminators had arrived in the wrong place, but in doing so had ended the threat of the Las cannons.

Away on the left of the battle, Helios pulled his Plasma pistol from it's holster nodding to Greene they and the marines with them charged over the hill, firing their pistols as they charged. Three of the PDF troopers were killed, and far behind them the damaged Razorback added it's fire to the torrent. The Plasma gun of the Razorback caught one man in the throat spinning him into the ground, dead before he hit the ground. The PDF returned fire dropping one of the marines as a las bolt blew out his knee, but it was not enough and the marines crashed into the squad with a punishing impact. Helios fired his plasma pistol into the commanders face before sweeping his sword, the ancient Sword of Whispers in an arc before him. Three of the PDF were caught in the sweep of the silent blade, it sailed clean through their armour leaving them dead in its wake. Sergeant Greene's chain sword joined the bloody work and before long the enemy lay in the dust. The remnants of the squad fired upon by the Vindicator formed to fire upon the marines as they stood over the fallen, but their lasbolts went wide, as the marines dived towards them.

Behind them however the turret of the Leman Russ began to track to them. The Las cannon marine once more tried to shoot the tank through the building but was unable to repeat his previous feat However it proved unnecessary as Kallos' Razorback skidded to a stop next to the generator building, and the marines inside piled out. Kallos directed the Marine with the Meltagun to attack the side armour of the tank with a curt gesture of his hand as he and the other marines fired up at the command squad. The Marine hefted his weapon and rushed the side of vehicle, and then lifted his weapon and discharged it at point blank range into the side armour over the tanks fuel supply. The searing blast of energy lanced into the side of the tank, and was closely followed by flames erupting from every hatch and seam.

Over on the right of the battle, the Vindicator smashed it's way through the remains of the building charging down on the remains of the squad it had previously fired upon, scattering them and finally breaking their morale. The Earth-shaker fired once more but the fight had gone out of the men there and they began to stream away from the battlefield.

In the centre Helios watched as Sergeant Kallos' squad continued it's brutal work. They fired upon the command squad in the generator building with their bolt pistols and as the enemy responded with their lasguns the Feral worlder and his troops let loose a mighty war cry and leapt at the building dragging themselves into the second floor and meeting the enemy blade to blade. The command group began to fall under the massive chopping sword of the marines as Kallos barged his way through the crowd, finally reaching the commander of the PDF. A stocky man, he raised his power sword in a salute as Kallos approached obviously expecting some form of duel. However the Sergeant took two swift steps and kicked the man square in the chest, propelling him through the wall of the building to land winded and broken on the ground below. The rest of the command squad fell under the blades of the marines.

The Commander lay still, unable to move as Helios strode over to him and stood above him. Helios looked down into the eyes of the enemy. The Light was fading in the commanders eyes as he looked down upon him, and finally the Captain spoke.

“So die all enemies of the Emperor”