War of Arrakia pt.2

      After the defeat at the capital city, Leton, Imperial forces were routed. The Imperial Guard company had lost itself a nearby desert due to negligence of the command staff. Nearly fifty miles away, the Space Marines were securing an already war-torn town. This puzzled the Astartes since the war had not yet reached this part of the planet.
      The Chapter Master of the Thunder Dragons, Varlen, and his newly fitted Terminator Armour was discussing possible options with Captain Lysander of the Imperial Fists. Lysander had come to this planet to try and bring back loyalty to the populace. When the chaos marines attacked, he had taken up arms with the band of  "Renegade" marines to act as their leader. Unable to agree on the best course of action, a new and experimental land speeder, the Fremen-pattern,  was sent into the centre of the battle-scarred town. Not long after it vanished over a line of buildings did gauss fire erupt from all directions. An explosion was heard and the last transmission was simple. "Unable to maintain altitude. Necron presence confirmed. Crash Landing imminent." With those three simple sentences, the battle for the town of Melange had begun.

 

 

Land Speeder Fremen crash site

 

      The advanced units of the Thunder Dragons crept up the streets without saying a word. All units stopped at the hand signal of the Lead marine. First and Second squad took up defensive positions along the side alleyways and waited patiently. A single voice broke through the silence. "Hostile Astartes spotted. Rhino approaching. Not responding to Communications." The Steel Nightmare Chapter had arrived and was in a battle formation. 

First and Second squad advancing by the numbers

      The Thunder Dragons advanced rapidly into combat positions. Assault Marines soared over the battlefield and landed behind the approaching Steel Nightmare Rhinos. A krak grenade was thrown at the Rhino to no effect. The lead scout summoned Chapter Master Varlen on the vox with an idea. Fire into the side of the Rhino and try to rend through the armour. It was a gambit. And it Worked.

Forward Scouts Spot the Oncoming Rhinos

The scouts' fire destroy the Rhino, Embarked unit evacuates

 

      The Marines from the Steel Nightmares were cut down without mercy. A librarian from the Nightmare's appeared not long after the destruction of the Rhino. As he began to summon a Vortex of  Doom, the perils of the Warp overtook him. He was torn limb from limb by the powers of the dark gods. The ground shook violently beneath the approaching Space Marine advance force.

The advance was going smoothly

 

All hell broke loose as the Necrons sprung up from the ground

 

      The ground roared as a Necron Monolith teleported onto the battlefield, bringing with it the death and destruction of Immortals and Warriors. Leading the Necron onslaught was Anrakyr the Traveler. He had come to Arrakia on the eve of the chaos invasion to reactivate a small tomb world that had laid buried far below the surface. Flying over the main force were a brutal-looking squad of Necron destroyers. Lysander ordered one of his renegade predators to open fire. At first, the autocannon only chipped away at the rugged chassis of the destroyers. But then, one by one, the destroyers crashed and burned from as the autocannon began to rip them apart. The victory was a small one, because soon after, the Monolith opened fire. The Renegade's Librarian saw an opportunity to push forward and try to carve a path through the Necron lines. They never made it to the front line. The Necron monolith fired its main weapon at the advancing Astartes.

 

And then there were none

 

 

      Seeing an opportunity to strike, Captain Lysander led a squad of Terminators against the enemy immortals. The assaulters charged against the Necron Immortals, losing only two brothers in the process. They struck the immortals like a hard tidal wave. However, from the rear of the Immortals, He appeared. Anrakyr the Traveler. He stood before captain Lysander. The challenge was made and accepted. Time seemed to slow as the two great warriors circled each other. Thunder cracked with each blow struck. The epic duel seemed to last a lifetime. Beside the two great warriors in their duel, The Terminators and Immortals were locked in vicious combat. But suddenly, as if the Emperor himself empowered Lysander, A killing blow was struck against Anrakyr. The Necron immortals seized the husk of their fallen leader and skulked back to wherever they had come from. A great cheer arose from the surviving battle-brothers.



 

 

The Epic Duel

 

 



 

     Even though Anrakyr had fallen, the battle was far from other. The Monolith roared back into combat and continuously bombarded the marine positions. The Astartes had no choice but to take cover and go to ground to prevent being wiped out entirely. During the exchange of bolter fire and gauss fire a frantic transmission had been sent from the Thunder Dragon's Scouts. "Sir! The Fremen-pattern, they have it! The foul Necrons have secured the crashed speeder. No sign of the crew of the speeder, presumed dead."

 

 

        The Necrons had won. While the forces of Astartes were occupied fighting Necron diversionary forces, a Necron warrior squad was able to raid, secure, and capture the downed land speeder. This means that the experimental technology and computing systems of the Astartes can now be analyzed by Necron spies. Unfortunately the Friendly Fire incident with the Steel Nightmares Chapter has led to many casualties. In the coming battles, The allied forces numbers are significantly few. There are three companies of Astartes, a company of Arrakian PDF soldiers, and the soon arriving 44th Arrakian Light Infantry.

 

"We are reduced to fighting a running war. We must hit them every chance we have with whatever we have. I am currently organizing a retaliation force at Con-D'Ben. Bring your respective companies back to this line. Victory is soon to be ours, but first we must regroup to hit them right where it hurts. You have your orders. Carry on." -Field Marshall Peach