Warhammer: Dark Knights

999.M35

Luxor V - Luxor System

Base L5-023

"So, do you think they can win the fight?" A guardsmen asking another guardsmen on his side, both of them are using binoculars looking out towards the place that have lasguns, explosive sound, and most loud of them, is the scream of the Orks.

"I don't know men, from what I know, they just got send out there to buy us time." The second guardsmen answer. "I only can hope that we can survive until the end, after all from what I got from the sergeant, the final push is happening."

"I really hope so." The first guardsmen muttered.

Inside a command tent, you can see multiple officers and servitors walking around, doing their duty to make sure the final push that finally can end the struggle for Luxor V to succeed.

"Master Voss, all the preparation have been completed." An officer inform the space marine that standing beside the holo table. "Colonel have confirmed that most of the outer layer of the Orks forces have been attracted towards the line that he have constructed."

"Understood, send out the orders for the guardsmen to begin preparation, the operation will begin in 15 minutes." Voss nodded to acknowledge the information that he got, and said to the officer. "Mareck, inform the men to begin preparation to move out."

"Understood, Master." Mareck reply, then turn his health and head outside the tent. "Officer, inform the cruiser to begin bombardment on the southern section." Voss then said to the Officer of the Fleet that send down by the Dauntless light cruiser to begin the orbital bombardment. "Understood, my lord." The officer slightly bow his head, then turn to the vox station to make the request.

After giving out the orders, Voss turn his eyes back to the holo table, as the information that display on it are still updating with the newest information. Blue icon that represents imperial guard, green icon that represents the Orks, all of them clashing with each other and icons from both sides flickered and disappeared

in the process, showing the brutality of the plans that he and the other three Colonel have plan out. Using the life of the guardsmen to trick out the simple minded Orks from their fortress, a former mining facility so that the Astarte and the veteran guardsmen can went inside the fortress and kill the Ork Nobz in charge of conquering Luxor V.

It's been three months since Voss and the 7th company arrive on this planet. When the strike cruiser arrive at the orbit, they all are deploy by drop pod as the fortress already being attacked by the Orks, and from the image that they received and the fragmentary report from the surface, it show that the fortress will fall within a very short period of time if they didn't intervene quickly.

As the 7th company comprised of 48 men. They are separate to two waves that will reinforce the fortress. First wave comprise of Voss himself and 28 men will deploy into the chaos using drop pod, while the second wave will be arriving using the Thunderhawk.

The battle end quickly as the Voss and his men from the first wave hit the Orks rear, killing the Ardboyz that leading the attack. With the dead of the Ardboyz, chaos erupt within the Orks as they broke and run away.

After the battle, Voss meet with the two Colonel of the guardsmen regiments. While the fortress have enough ammunition to supply the regiments and the fortress defence weapon, enough medical supply to heal the injured guardsmen, the casualties of the regiments still high.

As the guardsmen regiment that arrive as reinforcement deploy to the fortress, the counterattack begin with Voss leading the charge with 7th company. They launch lighting attack using the Thunderhawk to destroy Orks small outpost, destroying the Orks front.

After most of the Orks outpost been destroy, Voss and the 7th company launch attack on the Orks outer fortress that protecting their main fortress. With the help from 7th company, the Imperial force successfully dismantling all the outer fortress, paving ways towards the final objective. While the battles successful, some of the Orks from outer fortresses escape and run back to the main fortress, increasing their already strong defence.

The Imperial side also suffer casualties, mainly the guardsmen regiment that deploy here as reinforcement. The regiment, formed recently under order from Munitorum with troops from Luxor IV PDF, had been selected as the main force for the entire operation. Even though they are hardened by the Orks battle on their homeworld, they lack the cohesion and discipline that a normal guardsmen regiment typically have. Their lack of large-scale offensive maneuvers experience make them vulnerable and weaker, making them rely heavily on leadership of specific individuals, and even the mere presence of Astarte to push forward. This happen because as PDF forces, both troops and officers had only fought defensive battles, leaving them unprepared for the demands of a large-scale offensive operation and the low number of commissar in the regiment.

But the situation improve when the Navis Imperialis reinforcement arrive, a Dauntless class light cruiser. Now, rather than rely on the Thunderhawk to scout and the early information that collected from the strike cruiser before it depart for Luxor II, Voss and the colonels can now request the light cruiser to do an auspex scan to find the Orks position and any possible ambush or impending attack. This information advantage successfully in lowering the casualties suffer by the regiments, and let Voss to launch more pinpoint attack using Thunderhawk to kill more large Boyz, resulting the Orks to decay further into chaos. They can even now request orbital bombardment from the light cruiser, further reducing the casualties.

After 3 months of constant battle, the Imperial force finally complete all the preparation to launch the final attack on the Orks main fortress to kill the Nobz.

"Master Voss, the preparation for the final attack have completed." Mareck said to Voss, after he enter the tent.

"Understood." Voss said, while moving to exit the tent. When he exited the tent with Mareck on his back, the hardened guardsmen from 3 regiments already loaded into the transport vehicle, with most of vehicle are Chimera. Some of Chimera already moving out, serving as vanguard force for the impending attack.

"Mareck, lead 2 squads to join with the vanguard." Voss order, after confirming the situation. "You need to identify the Orks fortress weak point, and make a hole on it if you are able to."

"As your order, Master." Mareck nodded with determination on his face. He then march back to the 7th company that already assembled beside the Predator. The squads were ready for action, and Mareck quickly gathered 2 squads, 18 men in total, including himself.

The men, hardened from the battles, check their weapons and their gear one last time, to ensure their situation. With a final glance and confirmation from Voss, Mareck and the squads march out to regroup with the vanguard.

With the sound of bombardment from the light cruiser and the crackle of lasguns, proving the vanguard force already engaged the Orks. While the Orks are resilient as always, but with the casualties from the bombardment and most of the Orks attracted by the decoy force, the vanguard with the help from Mareck successful in making a small breach on the fortress.

With the possibility of a victory in sight, Voss ordered the main force to advance and the vanguard to flood the breach, or at the very least, maintain the breach until the main force arrive.

The vanguard, already bloodied by the first contact with the Orks, charging through the breach, into the fortress. More of them fall on the advance, bodies piling up as they advanced, but their morale didn't wavered.

This unwavering morale was due to Mareck and his men. With most of the commissar have been assigned to the decoy force, the units lack the deterrence of commissar to maintain the morale. Mareck and his men fill in the spot by fighting beside them, shouting encouragement, and saving guardsmen. This bolstered the spirits of the vanguard, pushing them to press forward with renewed determination.

"Sergeant, we need to consolidate our line to the breach!" Suddenly, in mist of chaos, Mareck hear a person talking to him, a member from his squad. "The guardsmen suffer too much casualties, and some of us wounded as well, we can't keep this up!"

As Mareck possessing the information, he stop and scan the battlefield. Just like what the marine said, you can already tell that the line are thinner than beginning, and he also see multiple guardsmen squads that encircle by the Orks. Most importantly, the injury suffer by his men are different. While most of them only have minor injury, some of them lost or heavily injured one of their arms, some suffer head injury as their helmet either cracked or discarded, showing their bruised and bloodied face.

Mareck knew that this injury's can be fix really fast, but it can effect their performance and thus increase the possibility of their dead. Among the 18 that he bring, 10 already suffer injury, while another 8, including himself, suffer minor wounds.

Acting swiftly, Mareck order the 2 devastator using their heavy bolters and multiple guardsmen squads to lay down suppressive fire into the Orks, buying time for Mareck to reconsolidated the forces to the breach.

As the battle continue, the number of guardsmen continue to decrease. Just when Mareck think that they will be push out of the breach, explosion happens in the Orks ranks. Rocket and artillery shell killing the Orks in massive numbers. It not only give them time to recover, but also do massive damage to the Orks fortress, collapsing buildings and blocking the Orks route to the breach.

Then, Mareck hear the roar of the Thunderhawk thrusters. The Thunderhawk land behind them and out come Voss and the rest of 7th company. "You have done a great job, Mareck." Voss said while walking to Mareck. "All of you have served the Emperor faithfully, with what you all achieve, the war on this planet will finally end!" Voss declared proudly, letting all every soldiers to hear when he stand beside Mareck.

As Voss finished, the rumble of Chimera tracks and the marching boots of guardsmen could be heard outside the fortress. After all this time, the main force had finally arrived. This lifted the vanguard's morale, and they roared as if victory was already theirs.

With the main force arrive, they take over the offensive as the vanguards move to the rear, supporting the main force in advancing into the fortress. The heavily injured marine from Mareck force also been task to the rear, helping the main force after receiving emergency treatment.

As the Imperium force advance forward, the fortress erupted into chaos. As relentless artillery strikes and now facing a fresh wave of guardsmen, the Orks starting to falter. With sound of bolter fire echoing through the ruins, and the recognizable hum of chainswords filled the air as the 7th company advancing.

Suddenly, a massive roar cut through the sky, a Meganobz burst through the ruins from below, sending the guardsmen flying as he tore through the rubles. The Meganobz, clad in thick armor and wielding a huge axe, barreling through the Imperial line, bringing death while laughing loudly.

With the appearance of the Meganobz, the Orks suddenly return to their original ferocity. While some continue their wild charge, some rally to the Meganobz. The green tide crash to the imperial line with brutal force, the Orks war cries echos through the ruins.

"Concentrate all fire power on the Meganobz!" Voss, recognizing the nobz threat, order all to fire upon it. Wishing to kill him, or at least slow him down and thin out the Orks around him.

With Voss order, marines that not fighting on the front empty their bolters on the Meganobz with the guardsmen lasgun volley joining. The Chimera that successfully getting into the fortress also fire their turret-mounted Multi-Laser cutting through the Boyz. The combined firepower send the smaller Orks to find shelter as the rounds hammered the Meganobz armor, slowing his advance.

The Meganobz roaring in fury, keep moving forward, shurging off all the damage with unbelievable resilience, yet his movement is clearly slower than before. Voss, seeing the possibility, signal the squad that he personally lead to prepare for an assault.

"Now, with me!" Voss shouted while launching forward with his squad behind him.

As Voss and the squad close in, the marines fire their bolters, aiming at the weak point of Meganobz to create opportunity for final blow. The Nobz roar as he tanking the attack, swing his massive axe. This force the marines to roll out of the attack range and continue to fire at him. Voss moving quickly to the nobz left side, his power sword crackling with it's energy field. Voss lunged forward and drove his sword into the Nobz exposed joint of his hand, that holding the axe. Blood and sparks come out as the power sword cut into the flesh, heavily injured the arm and forcing the arm to drop.

"Now!" Voss shouted. "Take him down!" Voss twisted the sword to keep the roaring Nobz back, lowering his threat.

The squad hearing Voss, closed in and fired their bolters in close range, damaging the Nobz thick armor. Some marines take out their chainsword, revving them with furious hum, hacked the Nobz legs and the other arm, aiming to cripple him.

The Nobz moved violently to try and escape the kill zone, but his moving slowing down as the combination of bolters and chainsword assault overwhelmed him. Bolter tore through the damaged armor, chainsword cut into the flesh and metal, sparks and blood flying out.

At last, Nobz legs buckled and kneel down, giving Voss to finally end him. Droving his sword down at the Nobz neck, severing his head from his shoulder in one swift strike.

The massive Nobz fall down, lifeless as Voss and his squad stood around him, while breathing heavily but victorious. The Orks that saw their Nobz slain, some froze in place while staring at the Nobz corpse, other begin to scatter as fear overtaking them.

"Move forward! Victory is within our reach!" Voss commanded, raising the Nobz severe head to raise moral.

With a loud war cry, the imperial force surged forward, cutting down the fleeing Orks and within the hour, reclaimed the fortress fully. Victory is thiers with the Imperium flag once again fly above the fortress.

While cleaning the battlefield, Voss received transmission from the decoy force. They stated, the Orks are in full retreat, and they are now pursuing the Orks . With this, mark the end for the struggle of Luxor V. As the Meganobz have died, and the Orks in disorganized. The remaining Orks can be deal by the 3 regiments alone, even if they already suffer casualties.

As Voss took time to congratulate his company, pride swelling in him as he knows that the trust bestowed on him and the 7th company by the Supreme Grand Master has not been wasted. He and his men have proven themselves with this battle to reclaim Luxor V.

Suddenly, his vox casters crackled to live. Voss paused, thinking what's the reason for this. Then, through the static, a familiar sound come from it.

"Looks like you all don't need our help after all."

"Grand Master Valentus." Voss said, surprised by the sound of Valentus. Just then, Voss noticed that his men raised their heads or seemed momentarily taken aback. It seemed that Valentus wasn't just speaking to Voss, but to the entire 7th Company.

"I was monitoring the battle." Valentus said. "You and the 7th company managed just fine without our help, you all certainly have prove yourself."

Voss glanced around at his men. He can see the pride swelling inside them, even when he can't see all of their expression. They were no longer the new guys of the chapter, and now they earned the recognition of the Grand Master.

"Now, be ready to board the Thunderhawks." Valentus ordered. "We have a final battle to fight and I don't want you guys to be unprepared." After finishing the sentence, the vox transmission ended abruptly.

Voss then turn to his men. "Prepare yourselves, brothers!" Voss commanded, his voice steady but filled with purpose. "This victory is just one of many to come. We have a final battle to fight. The Emperor's will is clear. Let's show them what the 7th is capable of."