A battle history recounted

Brother-Sergeant Loken of Lazarus tactical squad recounted a story of a great battle in which he had the pleasure of serving alongside the great captain Tycho.

It was an encounter that will be long remembered as elements of the third company under captain Tycho’s command engaged the thrice damned warband in an attempt to secure the southern flank of the imperial guard garrison on Cadia. This all occurred during a minor black crusade in 991.M41.

There were two zones perfect for terminator teleportation support on the flank at which the battle took place. Due to the tactical importance of these two objectives, those zones were sure to be hotly contested.

The Blood Angels Third company was to deploy all possible units to secure these objective points and the units closest to engage in the battle were tactical squad Lazarus under command of Sergeant Gadriel in a rhino, the Assault squad Alactus in a Razorback and the predator annihilator Wrath of Lemartes. Captain Tycho along with a small unit of sternguard veterans were to enter the fray via drop pod in an effort to wreak havoc within the enemy lines. The stormraven Sanguine Spear was to arrive as soon as possible with Assault Squad and the Furioso dreadnought Azrael the Venerable to provide additional support.

The thrice damned included a predator annihilator, a defiler war machine, their leader daemon prince among a host of troops including a unit of emperors children, a unit of death guard plague marines, and a squad of newly converted chaos marines from various legions that seemed as though they were quickly becoming followers of nurgle. A unit of raptors was also employed for quick assault support.

The thrice damned obtained a quick strike initiative, surprising the blood angels and doing a good bit of damage while the third company prepared its counter assault.

The defiler war machine launched a round from its battle cannon and destroyed a track belonging to the Wrath of Lemartes resulting in the vehicles immobilization. As the chaos rhinos advanced, the warband provided suppressing fire to keep the third company in place. This resulted in a rather effective tactical attempt to engage on their terms.  This advantage, however, was not to last.

As a drop pod slammed into the earth, the Blood Angels units opened up as a cohesive force. The crew of Wrath was unable to exact revenge for the damage inflicted as the defiler was out of range, however the razorback and rhino moved forward in an attempt to head off the advancing chaos troops. As Tycho and the sternguard unit exited the drop pod, they opened up with combi-meltas and destroyed the chaos predator. The decisive shot came from a beaky sergeant.

As the chaos marines advanced, the raptors engaged the sternguard unit in close combat.

Captain Tycho and the sternguard performed valiantly, as is to be expected, and forced the raptors into retreat. At this point the remaining veterans cut down the raptors as they attempted to flee.

A low rumble began to increase in volume, providing an ethereal nature to the visual horrors of war on this barren battlefield desolate and so far from the cradle of humankind.  As the higher pitched whine of anti-grav plates became audible enough to discern over the low rumble of engines and the sounds of bolter fire, a blood red visage appeared under the canopy of clouds.  The Sanguine Spear had arrived.

A new data feed began streaming to Captain Tycho’s visor lens.  In it, Tycho was able to obtain a bird’s eye view of the battlefield as well as troop strength and estimated enemy weapons loadouts.  Within moments Tycho had adjusted the battle plan to better take advantage of the enemy locations and maximize the strengths of his strike force.  As the Sanguine Spear halted its advance on the edge of the battlefield, the Stormraven emptied its payload of missiles into the defiler war machine that had continued to harass troops and vehicles of the third company.  Unfortunately at such long range the weaponry was not of much use.  While this gambit by the pilot and gunner servitor failed, Tycho took advantage of the opportunity afforded him by the distraction of the Stormraven’s arrival and subsequent barrage.  The Wrath of Lemartes utilized its turret and sponson lascannons to destroy a Chaos rhino transporting a squad of marines.  Stranded, this unit of marines was forced to disembark from the flaming wreckage and in revenge fired several meltaguns at a razorback assault transport.  A razorback for a rhino, and as destiny would have it the two marine units, one loyalist and one traiter, would then engage in close combat.  Meanwhile, the sternguard unit and Captain Tycho charged ahead, not firing their boltguns as would be the norm for such a potent unit, but charged the unit of Emperor’s Children noise marines.  Captain Tycho continued to lead by example, striking down several traitors and forcing the unit to retreat.  As they ran off the battlefield, they were gunned down by the victorious sternguard along with their champion, Captain Tycho.  The front objective was secure.

The unit of Death Guard plague marines suffered a similar fate as the standard marine unit in that they had been stranded with a destroyed rhino, courtesy of a single lascannon tactical marine.  As the Death Guard unit moved forward, they were caught in a crossfire between two combat squads of Tactical Squad Lazarus.  Incredibly resilient, the plague marines marched forward through a fusillade of bolter fire to assault the combat squad that had been embarked in a rhino. 

The ferocity of the chaos marines at this point could not be denied as the plague marines and the chaos united marine unit wiped out their engaged enemies to the man.  The Sanguine Spear then disgorged from its belly the mighty Furioso Dreadnought Azrael the Venerable as well as the assault squad Danton.  Squad Danton moved up in an attempt to cut off the Daemon Prince, rumored to be the legendary Son.  Once engaged in close combat, Danton proceeded to put up quite a resistance, but fell in battle to the Daemon Prince.  Azrael moved forward to engage Son in an attempt to slow the Daemon down and buy precious time for reinforcements to arrive.  As the Daemon and the Furioso prepared for what was sure to be a bloodbath, a meltagun shot cracked the roar of battle and immobilized Azrael.  With a Daemonic smirk, Son proceeded to fly over Azrael to engage the few remaining tactical marines holding the rear objective. 

In the rear of the battlefield, three remaining tactical marines held on within the ruins of a building in the hopes that they could hold the objective located there until reinforcements arrived.  Three units of traitors were converging on their position.  Son, the Daemon Prince, was arriving from directly ahead via air.  On the left flank, two remaining Death Guard plague marines were marching toward the turning point.  On the right flank, eight traitor marines loyal to Nurgle also trudged forward with no more troop resistance.  The Wrath Of Lemartes was silenced thanks to the same meltaguns that silenced Azrael.  The Sanguine Spear, on orders from Captain Tycho, had advanced and outflanked the defiler war machine, neutralizing it.  Three lonely tactical marines were all that stood between this army of Chaos and a victory.  As the three units advanced on the marines, a single marine armed with a boltgun and a marine armed with a lascannon managed to down one of the two plague marines.  Suddenly the left flank was much less dangerous. 

Son landed behind the tactical marines and attempted to fire a psychic attack at the Blood Angels.  This was not to succeed.  Something within the warp manifested itself in such a way that it surprised and attacked Son.  The great Daemon Prince vanished, sucked into a rift in warp space that claimed the prince of Nurgle.  Decades later, Sergeant Gadriel chimed in during the story to state that he believes he heard the laughter of an Eldar while Son vanished into the warp rift. 

On the right flank, the traitor marines continued to advance, firing all the while.  The lone remaining marine with a boltgun fell to this barrage of bolter fire.  When this happened, Sergeant Gadriel ordered the marine armed with a lascannon to prepare for close combat as he drew his own chainsword.  The two remaining tactical marines then stood their ground as the lone remaining Death Guard raised his power fist high into the air and charged.

The battle was fast and deadly, the roar and spinning teeth of the chainsword dancing a deadly tango with the glowing mass of the Death Guard’s power fist.  Then, the power fist found purchase on the chestplate of the heavy weapons marine.  Armed with nought but a bolt pistol and a short sword, he never stood a chance against such a veteran with a powered gauntlet.  The stricken marine was propelled backward into the walls of the ruin, breastplate shattered and helmet cracked to reveal a single eye locked in a lifeless gaze.

Sergeant Gadriel made the most of the opportunity.  The chainsword screamed as it found ceramite plating, and resulted in guttural noises as it broke through, tearing into diseased flesh.  The follower of Nurgle did not scream, as no true disciple of the god of pestilence feels pain as a mortal human or even Astartes would.  The damage, however, had been done.  The power fist, pulled back in preparation for a deadly blow upon the Sergeant, began to fall.  The Death Guard’s helmet tilted forward with the unseeing gaze from diseased eye angled toward the sight at the waist of his suit of armor.  A chainsword, no longer roaring, was lodged halfway through the waist of the marine.  Sergeant Gadriel released his grip on the hilt of the chainsword, watching the plague marine as he fell to his knees with a sound like a coin falling on bare earth.  Stopping short, the traitor marine unit saw the plague champion fall but did not hear his body hit the ground.  The only audible sound came from the screaming engines of Thunderhawk Gunships as they broke atmosphere en route to the battlefield.  As the Sergeant turned his back on the Death Guard, he met the gaze of the traitor squad leader.  A brief moment passed as they held each other’s gaze but suddenly the line of sight was blocked.  A red giant had appeared between the two leaders, wielding a power sword and a storm bolter.  More red giants clad in Terminator armor appeared to the left and to the right until a full complement of twenty Terminators formed a solid barrier of ceramite between the lone remaining tactical marine and the traitor marines.  In unison, all twenty Terminators raised their storm bolters, assault cannons, and flamers and opened fire.