Judgement

Tor stood sentinel atop a ruined tower, with the Long Fang at his side, as the Wolves advanced into the wreckage of the hive. It had been several days since their victory over the Necrons and the beginning of their trek to the Dorvious Rift and the passage had gone far too easily for Tor’s liking. Ferrus had taken the peaceful period to outline his plan of attack for the Rift, but had otherwise become somewhat complacent, such complacency often lead to mistakes.

The rhinos rumbled forward crushing the debris in their path, as the third grey hunter squad scrambled over the wreck of a defence emplacement, Ferrus watched warily as they did. The passage has become easy, far too easy. He paused and glanced over at Tor’s position, then to Jaegor and his wolves. Since his return to the pack Jaegor had remained distant, choosing to forgo the company of his fellow wolves barring a few until he had fulfilled his oath to avenge his fallen packmates. As much as it frustrated Ferrus from a tactical stand point, as a warrior he respected Jaegor’s oath, it provided the pack with an excellent example of a true warrior, indomitable and fearless. Ferrus smiled at the thought briefly before all hell broke loose.

From the west two black speeders appeared firing into the Long Fangs, at the same time a bright blue light flared up several meters from the Rhinos and several bone coloured Terminators appeared, followed by several bolter rounds and a green bolt of plasma flew into the Long Fangs position. The rounds impacted into the tower blowing a chunk of the wall, sending some of the Long Fangs sprawling, the plasma bolt impacted right on top of the squad, taking all of the squad barring Tor and a Lascannon wielding Long Fang. Tor shook himself, turning to the remaining Long Fang.

“You shall be the one to take those fools down.” Pointing his staff towards the newly arrived terminators as he spoke. “Show them the Sun Wolf’s fury.”

From Ferrus’ position he saw the attack as it was unleashed, he moved to rally the Thunderwolves in a counter attack, but before he could several black bikes appeared before them, firing round after round of bolts and plasma into the squad, at first both armour and storm shields held, but after several withering volleys the pack thinned out. Ferrus raised Rök before pointing it towards the nearest bike squad. “Forward, we shall crush these cowards and teach them to fight like true warriors.”

Skarvald watched as the ambush unfolded on the rhino’s viewscreen. Turning to a Grey Hunter he released the lock on top hatch.

“Come brother, let us show our enemy the price of attempting to corner the wolves of Fenris.” With a nod they pushed the top hatch open and opened fire on the terminator squad. “The jaws of Morkai await you!” Skarvald yelled over the sound of the gun fire. While mostly ineffectual,  some of the shots hit home, causing one Terminator to fall to his knees, only to rise once more to his feet. “Russ’ beard, they truly are relentless.” Skarvald chuckled.

“Aye, but they shall still fall like every other foe, by bolter and by the fang of our blades.” A resounding cheer rang out from the rhino, as the gunfire continued.

Ferrus rushed headlong into the bike squad, slashing with his axe as he went. Pointing his axe at the power fist wielding squad leader he roared.

“I challenge you to single combat, or do you wish to run like a whipped dog?” The reply came in the form of a cold stare, causing Ferrus to grin. “Words mean little anyway.”  Raising Rök high over his head he charged towards the oncoming bike, bringing it down just behind the front wheel, cutting through the steering veins, then forcing the axe in to an upwards motion cutting through the engine block sending the rider flying high into the air coming down with a bone shattering crack. Looking over his shoulder Ferrus saw that the rest of the Thunderwolf pack had dispatched the remaining bikes and were circling around to form up on Ferrus. Turning back to face the oncoming foe Ferrus stared hard in to the eyes of his next target, Tyr pawing at the ground in anticipation. This battle shall be glorious vengeance for our previous encounter he thought as he continued the deadlock stare.

Skarvald watched developments on the view screen. Panning across the field he spotted the two landspeeders backing up relatively fast firing as they went at a red armoured figure. Pressing a button on the wall a buzz of static filled the cabin, Skarvald leant over to the vox mounted on the wall, keying in the frequency for the second rhino he then spoke.

“Jaegor needs some assistance with some elusive quarry, go see if you can cut the legs out from under them.” A pause echoed back then the reply followed.

“Help Jaegor? Surely that is encroaching on his oath, which surely will not be something he will appreciate.” Skarvald growled.

“Help him, else you’ll be explaining to Ferrus why his company is only able to mobilise on foot!” An affirmative came back in reply and on the view screen the red figure was joined by a red rhino charging forward guns blazing at the two black land speeders.

Atop of the ruined defence platform the third Grey Hunter squad stood, firing volley after volley into the terminators as they marched across the field. Bolter shells impacted on armour,  explosions and shells bounced off, some impacting on the the terminator’s shields, creating a bluey flickering across the surface as they did. Beren ejected the empty clip, pushing the ejection button the empty clip fell to the floor with a metallic clunk and he replaced a fresh clip in the feed with a satisfying clack as the bolter’s hammer clicked back into place.

“Russ’ beard I’ve not seen a fight this fierce since we fought against the Thousand suns back on Fenris” He spat as he uttered that legions name, his fellow Grey Hunter turned to him.

“Maybe so, but fiercer fights make fiercer warriors and even better sagas to tell in the great halls.”

Beren laughed softly, the laughter was swiftly swallowed up in his throat when to the East he spotted a bone coloured Land Raider as it’s fore doors opened, disgorging lightning claw armed terminators right into the Thunderwolves. At the same time the other squad of terminators picked up the pace and charged into Thunderwolf pack. The combined force of both units took out the Thunderwolves to a man, leaving Ferrus stood alone and encircled.

Ferrus pointed his axe at the lead robed terminator.

“My name is Ferrus Stormwolf, of the Space Wolf Chapter, scion of the All father and you have just made your biggest mistake. I challenge you to single combat.” The warrior stepped forward bringing his shield forward, his hammer back ready to swing. Then it began, time after time, Ferrus and the terminator charged headlong into each other, neither making a definitive blow, either glancing off shield or being parried away . Sparks flew as hammer and Axe met over and over until a swing from the terminator’s hammer slipped through Ferrus’ defences catching his right arm. Knowing this was not a fight he could win at this time Ferrus turned Tyr, who leapt over the heads of the terminators encircling them and retreated a safe distance, still coming under fire from the remaining bikes. Loosening his grip on Tyr’s pelt, Ferrus steered towards the next bike and charged into it. Having dispatched it he then noticed the Land Raider bearing down upon him. It stopped in it’s tracks almost seeming to eye Ferrus down then it opened fire on him.

Beren watched on as the events unfolded. From his vantage point he saw the two Terminator squads split off again, one heading towards Jaegor and the second rhino, still currently pursuing the errant land speeders in a deadly game of cat and mouse. The second squad however, had not let Beren’s squad go unnoticed, they now advanced towards their position, somewhat ponderously, but relentlessly all the same. Beren’s  squad opened up on the oncoming terminators with little effect, only a shot from the lone long fang’s lascannon dealt any hurt to them, as it boiled through the armour’s shielding before obliterating the torso and right arm of the terminator hit. It was not long before the squad were upon them, scrambling over the debris in a clunky manner, some stumbling on the loose rocks.

“Aim for the rubble brothers, let the ground beneath their feet be their end.” The cry rang out across the Grey Hunter squad. At first there was little effect as the sense of urgency rose, given the proximity of the terminators. Then two bolter shells impacted at the very same time as a terminator’s foot came down on the already rickety rubble, the force of this caused the debris to give way,  sending the terminator falling to the ground only stopping as he landed in a nest of structural support beams, piercing his armour. A second fell as bolter shells connected with the servos on the armour’s knees, leaving the terminator an easy target as the entire squad lay their punishing barrage down. The remainder of the squad reached the Grey Hunters relatively quickly, only to find themselves on the receiving end of their counter charge, catching another terminator by surprise, sending them flying down towards the same fate as the others.  The last terminator stood and in a whirling dervish of fury cut into the squad with his lightning claws. Beren parried blow after blow, only to fall as well parrying an overhead blow, only to be stabbed in the chest by an unseen jab. Falling to his knees, Beren saw the world go black and in his last moments spat a globule of blood at the terminator before uttering.

“I’ll see you at the jaws of Morkai.” The terminator stepped forward, and sliced with both claws and Beren fell silent for the final time.

Jaegor chased across the field, still pursuing the land speeders furiously. He noticed the rhino that had joined his pursuit and while ordinarily he would be furious at such dereliction of his oath on a day like today he recognised the need for cooperation over isolation, oaths aside. Leaping to once side he narrowly dodged an incoming barrage of missiles and super heated melta shots. A grim smile broke across his face, he enjoyed the hunt, all space wolves did and the longer it went on the more satisfying the conclusion. A loud explosion broke his train of though and glancing to his right he saw as missiles impacted into the rhino, stopping it in it’s tracks. The Grey Hunter squad inside bailed out only to be met by further barrages of missiles and bolts of plasma from the second terminator squad as they closed on the hunting wolves. Jaegor sprinted towards the Landspeeders using the rhino as cover, over his shoulder he saw as a lone robed terminator charged into the Grey Hunter squad only to be cut down by chain swords, then disappeared in a blue flash of light. Jaegor growled at this, once more their foe was eluding them. Another day for them to fall to our might, he thought as he sprinted towards the land speeders.

Ferrus cut through the last bike, his axe arm aching from the amount of fighting he’d gone through  in such a short period. Glancing about he saw the Land Raider sitting watching over the rubble where the third Grey Hunter squad had deployed, he saw as Beren fell to the floor and as the high pitched whine of a lascannon sounded off in response killing the last terminator stood atop the ruin. Further afield Ferrus watched as the remaining terminators moved back towards their lines, for Ferrus it was too easy a target to pass up. Tyr launched into the air breaking from cover, dodging left and right as the land raider’s weapons came online and opened up on them, avoiding the barrage, they leapt into combat, Ferrus taking two terminators with one fell swing, turning to the last terminator he paused for breath for a second before charging in, as he did he raised his shield and his axe, bringing his axe down in a low swing only to connect with a power fist hitting him full force in the upper right of his torso, causing him to lose his balance briefly as Tyr spun around and ran back towards the safety of their lines.

Skarvald leapt from the top hatch of the rhino on to the top of the rubble pile, now covered by bodies of friend and foe alike.

“Cover Ferrus, keep their heads down.” He yelled over the sound of the rest of his squad following in his wake. In short order a volley of bolter fire roared across the field forcing the remaining terminator to take cover behind a dilapidated bastion. Further away Skarvald watched as the second Grey hunter pack was hit by a barrage of missiles and melta fire, when the smoke cleared none remained standing.  Uttering a Fenrisian curse Skarvald spat at the ground in disgust at his brothers being laid low. Looking about the battlefield Skarvald saw the a bright blue flash as the remaining terminator left the field. Similarly, the land raider and land speeders were moving away from the wolves. Taking the opportunity, Skarvald activated his vox link. “All space wolves, converge on my position and await further orders.” A flurry of affirmatives rang in his ear, then switching the link to Ferrus’s he asked. “What are your orders my lord?” A brief silence hung in the air before a short reply came back.

“Repair any damage, see that the wounded are combat ready, then we move out to Dorvious Rift.”

“It shall be done.” Skarvald clicked the link off, then turned back to the battlefield. The judgement of the enemy had cost them dearly, but the wolves had weathered the storm, barely. Now they would move to Dorvious Rift and hopefully uncover some answers.