Endric Phoorstein's Story

Planet Arawath
Near-to-Alpha, Est. 50m South of Alpha

In the tight corridors, alleys, and mixed structural integrity of the area, the soldiers immediately around Sergeant Icarus followed his orders and began piling into one of the structures to gain a tactical advantage. More and more of the 501st continued to touch down, in various areas; a few blocks to the North seemed to be where the major concentration was setting down, but this area had enough troops to set themselves up in a decent position of fortification.

Most of the 501st did not relinquish their grav-chutes, unless they had sustained damage; it was not only a fairly expensive tool, but one that could potentially see more use later on down the road.

"Sergeant Pilgrim," shouted one of the troopers. He seemed to be a veteran, his shoulder-badge indicating his code name as 'Striker'. More importantly he and another trooper, assisted by another pair, had heavy stubbers. "We'll take the roof. I'd request another handful of troops to ensure those damn Stormboyz don't get on top of us."

The two heavy weapons teams followed Icarus up the flights of stairs at a decent clip. From the vantage point on top of the building, the primary Alpha landing site for 2nd company was still concealed behind a wall of structures, but there were plenty of Orks to shoot; charging towards the building with the fire coming from it.

The ground floor had a volley of some twenty grenades thrown into it; the shuddering detonations that followed would leave the entire building shaking. If any of the Guardsmen made it out of the ground floors, they had not yet resumed firing.


Caccia would find himself at a fortuitous position near to the front of this engagement, hunkered down with some of the other troops some thirty meters away from the building that Icarus and the teams he had taken command of were situated in.

If Caccia chose to ignore the order, he would have options. The primary anti-air, at least if he had any idea how to navigate this world as yet, was somewhere to the West outside of the major hab structures. Another was off to the East, in the center of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Company drop zones.


2nd Company Alpha LZ

As fortunate as any Priest before him, Deacon had managed to find himself in a position not more than a block away from the main push; as such, trotting off in that direction would see him and his new friends linking up with the rest of the Company.

The situation here was markedly much better than the scattered comms chatter would suggest of other landing zones. With such a high concentration of Imperial Guardsmen, they were able to keep their positions defended from the West, while still pushing Eastward against the onslaught of Orks.

Sergeant Solar was at the moment no-where to be seen, but a renewed shout of WAAAAAAAAGH! would draw attention to a new wave of Orks; some two hundred or so barreling down on the Imperial Guardsmen. These were not the skinny grots or wiry Stormboyz that had been sent at the 501st thus far; these were Boyz, proper, and were led by a pack of Nobz.

"Fire on full auto, men," a nearby Sergeant shouted; the last thing they wanted was engagement with the Orks at close range. The front line opened up a severe barrage of las-fire, but returning shots from the Orks- and their natural resilience to damage- saw them keep coming despite the dead.

A black Valkyrie assault craft- the only one with considerable armament in the conflict, and for some reason incredibly low to the ground- passed overhead, unleashing a barrage of Autocannon fire and dispatching the rest of its rockets. While the Ork numbers suffered, they pressed on; and the Valkyrie became the recipient of a volley of return fire, several Ork rockets and cannons shearing off one of its wings. The craft spiraled out of control and could be heard detonating somewhere to the north.


To make matters worse, one of the structures to the south of Alpha LZ began to crumble as an Ork Tank began to rumble its way onto the Infantry position; a most difficult situation for the majority, due to a severe lack of anti-armour weaponry.

Wherever he was, Sergeant Solar had heard Belva's inquiry. "Do it, Psyker! That thing will rip the company apart!"


Secondary Designated LZ, est. 100m South of Alpha

The Commissar would not remain alone for long. She would also not remain unknown to the Orks for long.

With her position under fire from the Orks who happened to be below the building, the situation might start to appear rather grim. The red flare smoke was her saving grace, forming a wall of colour that threw off the Orks' already impressively bad aim.

In moments the lot of that particular group of orks was reduced to green and red clouds, due to the concentrated fire of several hot-shots and a grenade.

The group of Guardsmen that had actually made their way into the position were taken in by the Stormtroopers; whether they liked it or not, temporary though that arrangement was. Once they found the Commissar, the men moved to assist her in her position, leaving the Storm Troopers to their own devices.

Said Storm Troopers would be on their way down the building when a frustrated Sergeant's voice would be heard by most of those present in the structure, via their comm beads.

"Commissar, you have deployed red smoke. That is fire support request; be advised that- damn it, stand by and take cover!"

Even over the din of battle, the distant 'thump' of large guns firing could be heard. An entire Regiment of artillery had control of the area, and was eagerly awaiting an opportunity to hammer on the hated Orks. A man-made storm was coming; and assuming it was at maximum range, they would have less than twenty seconds to respond.

To bring even more misfortune, another wave of Orks had begun a charge and entered the building; the Storm Troopers, and what few Guardsmen were in the area to try climbing the structure, would now be trapped between the Orks and a climb to what may be their deaths.

Grim and Bottles would find themselves dropped into this situation. For better or worse.


600 Meters North of 1st Company LZ

Trooper Phoorstein would not immediately know where he was. Even by the map that he had been able to take a look at before the jump, as far as he could tell he wasn't anywhere near the drop zone.

To say he had flown off course was an understatement.

"Punkt," Sergeant Solar shouted over comms. "How the feth did you end up in the middle of no-where?" He was understandably annoyed; but one soldier who ended up elsewhere could not be helped.

"Get to a position where you can get eyes on your situation from elevation. Once you have ascertained what your status is, link up with the rest of 2nd Company."

A task easier said than done; Phoorstein had ended up somewhere West of the entire push, almost out in the Ash wastes. Despite the rebreather and landing goggles, the sheer amount of ash whirling around was blinding.

And to make matters worse, the distant sounds of battle were not quite as distant as one might have hoped- from the north, several Ork ground vehicles were moving towards his position.

The large tower structure to the south would perhaps be his only hope of survival.

Icarus Toroun

Pilgrim looked above his head as a Valkyrie flew right over his position and covered his face with his arm to guard against the wind even with the mask over his face. He watched as the airship went down and guessed there was a large force of orks in that area. With all the gunfire in the LZ there had to be a large battle going on. Icarus could only get minor glimpses from his distant position, but he could hear more than just guns and battle cries.

The distinctive sound of ork armor rolling over debris came from that area, and it sent a chill down his spine. But he could not move his position as he was needed on that rooftop. "Lasgunners, put your head on a swivel. Scan all streets and alley ways, I don't want to be snuck up on." It was then that the frag grenades shook the building at Icarus half expected the roof to cave into the lower floors. "One of you check the staircase! Let me know if any orks start coming up that way!" Icarus fixed a laser guide to his lasgun and turned on the green beam of light as he used it to plot a firing line towards the LZ.

"Striker, you see where i'm aiming? There is only one wall in between us and that LZ. Get ready to fire down this line when I take it down." Icarus turned off his laser guide and set his lasgun aside for a moment. He takes one of his frag grenades and pulls the pin but holds onto it and tries to judge the aim of his throwing arc. Throwing the grenade with a short yell the grenade disappears into the rubble. An explosion sounds as the already battle-weakened wall falls down from the explosion. Icarus picks up his lasgun as scans the new opening that shows the rest of the company and a large horde of orks. "Concentrate fire on that opening! Suppressing fire for 2nd company right now! Make the Emperor proud!" Icarus fired his lasgun, his shot hitting one of the advancing orks and giving the other soldiers near him the will to fight.

2nd Company Alpha LZ

Despite the short-lived assault of the Valkyrie Gunship, the Orks continued to push forward against the onslaught of Las-fire. With few heavy weapons specialists or melee combatants on the field, the 501st was about to face an infantry charge that could prove most deadly.

The Orks did not need to utilize any breaches in the defenses- there were enough of them, lead by a pack of Nobz, that there was simply not enough fire to keep them all down.

An unfamiliar Lieutenant's voice sounded over wide-band comms. "Any and all melee combatants to the front! Guardsmen, fix bayonets; Do not let the Emperor find you wan-"


Meanwhile, the tank had been dealt with quite sufficiently; both the Psyker and two Krak grenades had ensured that nothing survived inside the tank, or in the immediate vicinity outside of it- with the exception of a few Orks that had managed to stray far enough away from the cover before it became volatile.

Augustus was quickly near to Belva; apparently having been the trooper to make the previous shot, he was taking careful shots here and there at nearby targets, while covering Belva's exposed side. "Emperor preserve us," he whispered to himself; he had never witnessed such destructive power, but it was for the Emperor at least. "Well done, Ma'am," he said more loudly in between shots.


The first artillery shell hit somewhere to the south. A few moments went by before another one hit, further south; and then a rain of shells began to obliterate the structures south-east of the Landing Zone. A few shells landed amidst the Orks, cutting huge swathes in their numbers; and unexpected support fire from the south-west in the form of heavy stubbers helped to deter the orks.

But nevertheless, melee was engaged with several of the Nobz and a plethora of Boyz cutting into the Imperial front lines.



Near-to-Alpha

"Yes sir, Sergeant," Striker declared, both teams setting up their heavy weaponry. The rest of the guardsmen- about thirteen men who had followed to support them- set up a position around the stairs and began heading down carefully per Pilgrim's instructions.

"Sergeant! Orks are coming, lots of them!" The lasgunners began firing as soon as the first Ork began to charge its way up the stairs.

Disregarding the situation behind them, both heavy weapons teams began to open up on the Orks' flank.


The Catachan, and the troopers foolish or brave enough to go with him, would find themselves crossing the street to the North; much closer to the fighting in Alpha than anywhere else as of yet. The Orks had lost interest in them, deciding instead to go for the newly cleared bottom floor of Sergeant Icarus' building.

The building that Caccia had taken was mostly clear, aside from a few quickly dispatched Gretchins and Grots taking cover and taking pot-shots at the defenders.

More importantly, they would have a good view of the incoming green tide descending on the 501st. Without mincing words, the Guardsmen quickly decided to set up a position at the window and add their las-guns to the fire trying to keep the Orks from advancing.


Shells began to impact to the East and South of the position that Sergeant Icarus had begun to fire from. Despite the increasingly volatile barrage of shrapnel 'Striker' and the other teams continued to fire. Fortunately the position was far enough out of range of the most devastating rounds and rockets to impact the area, but it was still incredibly jarring- and with Orks charging up the stairs, they were soon to be in poor condition.


Secondary Designated LZ, AKA Artillery Strike Zone

The troopers near the Commissar flashed the Aquila and began to proceed with her orders; being from a different squad, they were not privy to the fact that an artillery strike was inbound. With the Commissar berating the Storm Troopers- a much appreciated and most amusing thing for them- they began setting up a position to fire on the encroaching Orks.

"Bloody hell, almost sounds like we lucked out missing Alpha," one guardsman remarked to the other, hearing the wide-band call for melee. Few reveled the chance for engaging Orks in close combat, much less a regiment best suited for quick strikes against softer targets.

The other was about to reply when the Commissar shouted about incoming artillery- and barely in time.


The bottom floor would see significantly more troubles than the upper floors, for the moment. The incoming waves of Orks were, for the most part, put down just as easily as their compatriots in the face of the Hot-Shot Lasguns that the Storm Troopers used, overshadowing the dozen or so other Guardsmen who were being cut down throughout the area.
So it was that the Orks decided the stairs made an excellent target for about ten stikk bombs- which would soon be outclassed by a much larger weapon.



The first couple of artillery impacts were somewhere to the north, and probably seldom noticed amidst the cacophony of the battle around them; but the third impact sounded as if it had landed somewhere very, very close by.

And then it began to rain munitions. Rockets and shells began pelting the area, rocking the very foundations of the planet for all the troopers at its center could tell. A great many of the shells seemed to hit to the north and east of their position, but it was obvious that it was all around.

One shell crashed through the roof, through the floors, and into the basement; a direct hit. The bottom-most floors would quickly become consumed in flame and shrapnel.

The shell obliterated the literal foundations of the structure, sending it into a crumbling descent as the waves of artillery continued to fall around them.



500 Meters North of 1st Company LZ

The Ork vehicles thankfully managed to miss Phoorstein completely; they were more intent on running over the well-visible Guardsmen than attempting to track down stragglers. Nevertheless, it was wise to hide as the vehicles rumbled past, Orks shouting and firing their weapons randomly in the air, eager to charge into the fray.

"Punkt, get to cover, wherever you are. Try to get eyes on an Imperial LZ and link up with the forces there. Once the battle is over you can link up with the squad."

So it was that Trooper Phoorstein's path would bring him closer to a tower, becoming visible through the ash storms in front of him. The tower seemed to be several stories tall, and at the top were several- likely destroyed or dismantled- weapons installations.

Somewhere to the East, an immense series of artillery barrages began.

Icarus Toroun

He heard a very distressed Guardsmen yell out that there were orks coming at to breach the roof. Icarus cursed and ran over to the staircase looking down at the green bodies about to ravage their firing line. "If anyone has flamers, alternate fire down these stairs!" Icarus grabbed a frag grenade off of the guardsmen who had first called out about the orks and threw it down at the first ork he saw, hitting it square in the face. Toroun grabbed the guardsmen and pulled him out of the way as shrapnel and smoke flew out of the stairway.

Icarus let Striker do his job as a series of artillery impacts vibrated the building and their ears. Looking over the Northern side of the building, Icarus turned and asked anyone for a repelling wire and ordered one be set up on that side. Toroun and four other guardsmen then began clearing the North side street of orks the best they could as the rest either flamed the staircase or repelled down the wire. He called on Striker's squad after most of the other men had gone and lastly the flamers. He himself was the final soldier to repel down the wire.

Once they were all on the ground, Icarus took point and led his team chamoline cloaks equiped through cover towards the South-Eastern wall he had taken down earlier and made hand signals for a firing line to be set up on the orks flank to make a crossfire with the rest of the Imperial Guards at Alpha LZ. He held the order to fire until he was ready. He activated his radio and switched to the company channel as well as gave out his orders to fire at the same time."2nd Company, South-East firing squad supplying crossfire. Heavy Stubbers firing on Nobz."

Icarus gave the hand signal and a barrage of Imperial fire sprouted from the South East. Icarus and a couple other guardsmen watched their back side and shot at any orks daring enough to approach from there.

2nd Company LZ & Surrounding Area

Despite the volume of fire leveled on the Orks, they continued charging. The creeping Artillery barrage had crept into their lower ranks; helpful, but not capable of turning the tide away. In moments they were in melee.

The front lines of the Guardsmen began to shatter almost immediately; with so few melee specialists, the Orks plowed through the forward fortifications, such as they were, and began to work their way through. The 501st was not suited for this; but they would have to try to weather it.

Somewhere in the melee, Sergeant Solar was trying to hold another group of Guardsmen together; the squads had been badly split apart, and so anyone of rank was expected to start pulling the company together.


It was around the Priest that resistance would be strongest; armed with a Chainsword, he would be able to keep the Guardsmen closest relatively safe. Inspired to keep fighting, the few Guardsmen around Father Yates toggled their armaments to rapid-fire, overheating their weapons to pour as much damage onto the approaching Orks as possible; before the inevitable melee. A volley of grenades would assist in this, but the green tide was not to be dissuaded.


Caccia's position would soon come under scrutiny. A pack of Boyz, led by a Nob, begin charging the building. A few scattered shots find their way towards him and the Guardsmen, who return fire- but as the rest of the Orks, the goal was to get into melee.


Sergeant Icarus' position would be lost, but this is a fact the man already came to accept; the Guardsmen followed his orders to the best of their ability, but the Orks were too many, even with the narrow lane of approach. Once the drop-line was set for Icarus, the rest of the makeshift squad was quick to descend via their Grav-chutes.

The flame troopers were not able to escape the Orks; even as they charged after the retreating Guardsmen, the Orks charged faster, cutting them down, and howling impotently at the Guardsmen who had just escaped their wrath.

But the battlefield around them was not to be considered a pleasant atmosphere; Orks continued to come from seemingly all sides, pressing the squad closer to the main lines, and Caccia's position.


Belva's position in the North-East put her in a surprisingly docile location; she would be closest to the Sergeant, though whether or not she could pick him out in the ensuing melee was another matter. With the small group of troops entrenched in a building nearby, her and her handler would be contributing to the mass of fire against the Orks.

Her decision to fire on the Orks chasing down another group of Guardsmen would bring their attention to her, however. With a great shout, a pack of them makes way for her position, perhaps sensing her latent power as a deadly foe.


Things could scarcely get worse for the Guardsmen, and yet, there it was; several hundred meters behind the front, at the rear guard, several Ork vehicles had come from behind. Word of this had been relayed by a well positioned Guardsman, but there was still a lacking availability of heavy weapons to deal with it.


The one good thing to occur was a sudden influx of allied dropships. Descending through the skies, these larger landing craft were heading to ground with breakneck speeds. At first the Orks had not noticed them, with the Anti-Air emplacements largely engaging other forces. But they were soon noticed, and the skies were once again filled with a huge quantity of fire.

Several of the ships did not make it, and came crashing down both on Ork positions and those of the 2nd Company. One fortuitously placed crash site was on the front lines, helping to funnel the Orks into several lanes instead of a massive tide, but by this point the melee was already upon them.

If anyone survived the crash, the Orks were quick to break their way in and make that less likely.

Three intact dropships managed to land in the 2nd Company LZ. A wide-band Vox-communication would be sent out.
"This is Commander Odessa of the 32nd Hiigaran Hunter-Killers. We are here to assist."

While still behind friendly lines, for the most part, the three surviving dropships would begin to disgorge the troops of the 32nd; mostly infantry, but several Sentinel walkers, Hellhound support tanks, and a few Chimera transports, came out with them.


Secondary Designated LZ, AKA Artillery Strike Zone

The Commissar's attempts to keep order among the Guardsmen was likely appreciated, but ultimately obsolete; they were terrified, and the structure they were taking shelter in was crumbling around them. They could barely hear the Commissar anymore- deafened by the number of nearby blasts, all they could do is watch her attempt to build some kind of flimsy bridge.

That said, they did not even need to hear her to know that this was their only way out. Of the Guardsmen that had found the position, only five would make it out before the building's upper floors began to collapse entirely; those five using their Grav-chutes to propel themselves across the gap and into the other building, in various states of disarray.

Of course, said other structure was scarcely in better condition, but it hadn't taken a direct hit yet.


On the ground, the Stormtrooper squad would find it difficult to traverse the landscape around them; assuming they could even divine North at this point, the entire area around them had been shelled into oblivion. While the barrage had begun to creep Eastwards, the roads and buildings in the area had made the terrain incredibly hostile.

The small upside was the sudden lack of living Orks. Aside from the few that were in sufficient cover when the barrage began, the streets had been cleared of Orks quite effectively.

The unceasing sounds of the artillery barrages and the immense battle to the North would intermingle, giving them perhaps a rough idea of which ways not to go, and which ways might be friendly.

The skies above were soon filled once again with anti-air fire, and the targets of said fire, a series of landing ships carrying allied reinforcements. Many of them were brought down- why they were dropping before the anti-air was taken out at all was a mystery- but several could be seen making it down successfully beyond the structures to the north, and south-east.

One of the landing craft spiraled into a crashing descent somewhere West of the Stormtroopers, but the chances of survivors was unlikely.