"Here they come, get ready."
In the chaos of the repeated assaults on the Choral Palace it was difficult for transmissions not to go to unintended places.
From a capture vox-comm Saul Tarvitz had learned that the Imperator Titan Dies Irae had suffered some damage in the firestorm that engulfed the planet. There was a group of tech-adepts sent down to repair the machine but they had been shot down and although they survived they needed to get to the God-Machine. The most direct route was through the Choral Palace.
They would be escorted by World Eaters so Tarvitz sent World Eaters to intercept them.
It was difficult to pick the blue and white armour out. The blood that they coated themselves with so often in battle was now covered over with dust from the fighting.
Still Tarvitz knew that they would love a crack at their former comrades.
There was no subtlety to the fighting. As the marines headed towards the damaged catacombs they were smashing their bolters against their chests, a similar din could be heard echoing through the tunnels in the distance.
Chaplain Orotorex ordered one squad through the ruins of the chapel while the other squad took a position covering the tunnel beside it, Ancient Begrax moved up to support them.
The marines in the chapel ran into the enemy terminators first, a brief firefight ensued and the marines held them briefly.
It was all Ortorex needed. He moved through the ruins outside the chapel and sighted the first Tech adept. His plasma pistol hissed and soon a smouldering hole appeared in the chest of the mechanicum official. He dropped to his knees before falling flat on his face.
The enemy Captain surged forward. Ortorex didn't recognize him, he dodged two bolter rounds and fired his pistol, but it didn't penetrate the Captain's thick armour.
The Captain didn't miss his next shot and the meltagun part of the combi weapon melted through the shoulder pad of the Chaplain, the metal washing down the inside of his armour, searing through muscle and into the viscera beneath.
The Chaplain went down, not yet dead.
The two units of marines on opposite sides of the ruins charged forward. Fire from the loyalists pinned the enemy Captain down before a second plasma shot hit a weak point in the armour and he tumbled backwards.
The two groups of marines fired at each other almost point blank while in the tunnel beside the ruins they were in the two dreadnought faced off. Heavy bolter fire rattled harmlessly off of the contemptor dreadnought as it surged forward.
Its multimelta hissed and the joint in Ancient Begrax's knee was fused, immobile.
Fueled by blood lust the contemptor came on, his powerfist pulled back. A quick burst of fire came rattling out of the heavy bolter at the moment before impact, it was enough to throw the contemptor off balance and Begrax caught the monster with a blow in the center of its chest, shattering the armour and with an explosion that left the loyalist dreadnought singed, the renegade contemptor was just smashed, burning wreckage.
Begrax turned his fire on the remaining adepts, blasting one to pieces as the space marines tumbled out of the ruins firing at the last of the adepts, blasting apart the servitor that aided him.
The marines in the chapel knew they had given all they had and delayed the terminators enough and fell back out of the chapel in case one of the adepts made it past the marines in front of them.
The traitor marines surged forward smashing into their former brothers.
The melee was savage and Begrax yearned to be killing but was stuck with his leg immobile.
The adept tried to dodge past the fighting to get out of the tunnels but he was not quick enough. Ancient Begrax missed him once but then the power fist connected with the adept on the back swing knocking him into the rubble.
Seeing their mission had failed and not wanting to take their chances against a dreadnought that had destroyed a contemptor, the remaining traitor World Eaters withdrew.
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"This point has to be held, we just need to keep them here for 12 minutes," said Chaplain Orotrex, his injuries healed and his armour repaired with that recovered from enemy dead.
"If we can hold them that long, it will be enough for Loken to get some heavy weapons over here and repel the main assault."
"What are they sending," asked Captain Assar.
"That," the chaplain responded, pointing.
The three squads of marines split up, Ortorex taking the right flank, Assar taking the center and the other squad the left.
A dreadnought came into view and a World Eater sunk to one knee and fired his tube, the missile flew true and smashed into the dreadnought a dull thump was heard as the back of the machine blew out.
Angron was on them before they had much chance to congratulate themselves.
Bodies flew and the squad accompanying Ortorex was shattered in a moment, the few living marines fleeing before Angron.
Orotorex turned and fired
He hit the primarch, for all the good it did. He whirled as he heard the mechanical footsteps behind him but that action, too, was useless. The multimelta hit him in the abdomen, the heat so intense that he was cut in two parts the stench of burning flesh reaching his nostrils before he realized he was dead.
Bolter fire exploded against the Primarch's right side, he changed directions almost instantly.
Bounding down the hall, moving from side to side faster than even marines could track him, he was into his second squad in mere hearbeats.
His twin axes whirled and, again, bodies flew but not as quickly this time and the marines didn't run.
Soon the Sergeant faced his primarch alone. A moment before his powerfist had caught Angron in the thigh tearing loose some armour. With a backward swing the Sergeants body was torn open from hip to clavicle and Angron faced around bellowing to engage Captain Assar.
Even the Captain's terminator armour couldn't stop the axes of the Primarch for long.
The terminators moved rapidly through the building despite the rubble clogging their paths.
They could see brief flashes of violence through the holes blasted in the wall and a body would occasionally come over the wall where the ceiling had collapsed in.
They saw their targets now before them, the marines fired and one of the Terminators fell, but they charged, firing as they went. The fight was fairly even, the sergeant's powersword cleaving through the bulky armour while the Terminators powerfists pulled one of the space marines.
The whine of a lascannon announced the arrival of reinforcments.
Angron beheaded Captain Assar and howled his anger as he retreated, explosions and lascannon fire hurrying his flight.
