Warhammer Warhammer 40,000 the battle for Rhoda III

Warhammer 40,000; The battle for Rhoda III

A battle report

Legend says that this planet- known to the Imperium as Rhoda III, that every time a battle was about to begin, it would rain, as if the whole world was weeping for the lives that were to be lost in these terrible wars, Captain Arcadius smiled at this thought, as, like the legends say, the rain poured down, _we must be nearing our enemy if she is weeping like this _he thought 'sergeant Areus' he said into the vox 'recon ahead and see if the enemy's base is close' Areus responded 'yes my lord, moving into position now' Areus replied. The Ultramarines third company have been engaged on this feral world for some time, against a large battalion of guardsman who rebuked their oaths to the Emperor and turned to the heretical taint of chaos, they have stood fast against the Ultramarines for some time, but in the end every battle was inevitably one-sided as the ultramarines slaughtered every guardsman they found. A map was found on the tenth day of the war positioning where the guardsman's headquarters was located Arcadius was leading half the company away from the main fighting to find and eliminate this position.

Areus treaded carefully through the jungle, along with the rest of his men, all of them are new neophytes, in which all there training has been complete now there trials had begun _hopefully _Areus thought _the emperor will smile on these men and they come out alive, so they can take there rightful place as battle brothers _'spread out, and tread carefully' he whispered through his vox, upon seeing a clearing with some ruins visible. He quickly made to the edge and saw a sight that made him shiver, three leman russ battle tanks, a vanquisher, a punisher and a demolisher, stood in a row on his far left, in the centre was around fifty to eighty infantry, with a squad of three heavy weapons teams, all of which have lascannons, behind them were two scout sentinels armed with lascannons, while on his right were two armoured sentinels, both armed with plasma cannons, while behind them, which made fill with utter rage, was ten chaos space marines of the iron warriors legion, 'captain' he said through the comms 'I have found the enemy position, this is what I've seen….'.

… 'Understood sergeant' Arcadius said 'see if you can find a way behind them and get into the main building, courage and honour to you'. He turned to his sergeants who he instructed to meet for battle plans 'well my brothers, the target has been found, but is heavily defended and they will not let it go easily, so therefore we will devise a mass assault plan to defeat the foe and cleanse them'. The sergeants gathered around there captain, all of them honoured veterans who were hand picked by him due to they fierce reputation in battle. 'Right, here is my plan, brother Vardanes will stay on the left with his devastators providing cover fire and taking out the three leman russ tanks on the left, brother Tiberius will be on the right taking out the armoured sentinels and providing covering fire for the tactical squads trying to get close to the enemy, sergeant Honorius will take the rhino transport and smash into the enemy centre, Isaac and Marcus, will go on the left and try to breach from there, Agis, you will go to on the right and will be supported by Avitus, who, with his combat squad, should provide enough covering fire'. 'Understood my lord' they said in unison, Arcadius continued 'Xerxes will arrive via deep strike and hopefully get close enough to destroy those tanks should Vardanes's devastators fail to destroy them' he then turned to the massive figure behind him- a figure of an old and blessed one, 'brother avros' he said to the mighty dreadnought 'you will be on the front and will destroy as much as possible' brother avros spoke '**yes brother, may I suggest something?**' the captain nodded 'it would be a fool who should ignore your words brother, what should you suggest'. '**The land raider _Constantius_ should be kept in reserve and when needed keep it on the left, the ruins would provide it cover so that it won't be a easy target to hit, then it would help in those tanks destruction'** the captain stood still for a moment then said 'very well, your right brother avros, if we use _Constantius _at the start their tank would target that first, and possibly destroy it' sergeant Marcus came over 'but the land raider has never been destroyed or wrecked in battle in it's two thousand years of service' Arcadius turned around to him with a grim expression 'my brother, how do we know when our next engagement will be our last?' then turned back to the battle plan, 'I with my command group and Maxentius and brother Marcian, I will lead from the front and strike at those chaos traitors and smite them!' the captain stood silent for a moment then said 'courage and honour my brothers, for we march for Macragge and for the Emperor!' the sergeants responded 'and we shall know no fear' then, with prayer and fire in their hearts, prepared for battle.

The guardsman in the meantime were busy feasting on the hapless villages that used to live here, they were cannibalises to begin with, but Khorne's blood thirst made them want more, the general was busy talking to on of the giant men while Guardsmen Lenx was laying behind the barricade eating the arm of a poor soul he found and butchered for Khorne's thirst for blood, he loved it, and was looking forward to eating some meat from a dead Ultramarine, he believed that eating a space marine would give him the abilities of one, suddenly, a rush in the forest disrupted him, he picked up his lasgun and looked over the barricade to see what it was, 'huh, it's only the wind' he said to himself, but their was no wind, it died suddenly when the rain stopped, he turned around to continue eating his meat, but the last thing he saw was a lascannon shot taking clean off the plasma cannon on the armoured sentinel next to him and the same cannon falling directly on top of him…

'For the emperor!' the Ultramarines shouted in unison as they charged directly towards the traitors defence line without firing a single bullet, for they weren't in range and wouldn't waste their bullets until they could see the foe, upon the destruction of one of the sentinels weapon, and one of the guardsman crushed the guardsman immediately rallied with great discipline, and prepared to meet the massive blue line heading towards them, Commander Althelstan was pleased of the quickness of his men, 'lets give them something to remember' he shouted towards the lascannon team that was left of him, 'you lot!' he shouted 'bring down that rhino tank!' the lascannon team immediately complied and annialeted the tank, which exploded on contact. Meanwhile in the darkness of the ruins, a tall figure watched as the battle proceeded, his powerfist tightened as he saw the ultramarines take pick shots at the army defending this his gaze fell across the whole ultramarine force as they descended like angels of death _well they are _he thought_ but they wont be for long _he walked across to the command squad 'how did they find us he immediately said to the general' 'I don't know' he replied as he gazed the inquisitor's giant form 'then make sure that the trap is ready' Gazelen said 'if the army fails we cannot let them gain our intelligence reports'.

Honorius climbed slowly out of the wreckage, he and most of the squad were dazed but amazedly unscathed, except for one marine 'pray for him Triton, for he joins the emperor's feast today' he said quietly but there was no time for mourning at a moment as a voice came through his vox 'Honorius come in damn it!' Honorius quickly replied now that he had his hearing back 'sorry captain, I'm alright as is all of us except for Triton, got impaled through the some metal in the skull' a sigh came through the vox until, 'sorry to hear that, but right now get your squad into the ruins until we catch up' 'yes captain, alright brothers' he said to the squad, 'lets get into cover or we will be sitting ducks'.

'Marcian!' Arcadius shouted to the librarian, 'open up a gate to get us closer to that blockade! The librarian instantly worked in to the powers of the warp and opened a gate which the squad instantly went through and came out to the other side, but was engulfed by las fire from the traitors, luckily due to the blessing of their power armour brother Pullo only fell dead and the captain only wounded in the left leg, 'return fire!' Arcadius bellowed to the rest of the squad and fired as many weapons as they could, however only felling two, they then noticed that the guardsmen and chaos space marines were getting ready for a counter-attack.

By then everyone had made it to the ruins and was firing into the mass of guardsmen behind the wall, Isaac's squad fired into the heavy weapon teams that were just visible and managed to fell one squad, knocking one of the lascannon, assault cannon fire soon pounded onto the heavy weapon team by avros '**burn heretic' **he said in his deep ancient voice. Isaac watched the dreadnought blaze at the teams, but his face turned to horror as avros was engulfed in lascannon flame and with sound at all fell. Anger swelled through Isaac at the sight of a noble and ancient warrior being felled at the hands of traitors 'kill them all, show no mercy! He bellowed through the bark of his Boltgun, the others followed suit.

Arcadius danced through the ranks of guardsmen that lay before him. His sword went left, and three guardsmen lost their heads, swung right, cutting a guardsmen in half, leaving only a few moans behind, to be finished off by Maxentius, the company champion, Arcadius caught sight of the chaos space marine leader, a long veteran of the warband that followed him, Arcadius looked behind him, his squad was still fighting the guardsmen with Julian and Elexios, the standard bearer, fallen but the banner still flew high, he turned back to help his brothers. Knowing that if he didn't hold them off, then they would destroy them in close combat.

Scout sergeant Areus had led them through the wilderness only to discover he had arrived back where started, distraught at such scout failures he turned to his men 'I might have failed to get us to side we are meant to be on, but I will still do my service to the emperor, forward men! He shouted and immediately charged. The land raider _Constantius_ arrived on the battlefield as well, and was ready for anything, whilst squad xerxes, terminators of the first company, deployed, only for half to be cut down by the tanks they were meant to be destroying.

Arcadius had prepared for the charge of the chaos marines, but hadn't prepared for what was with them, an inquisitor! _A vile traitor and heretic indeed to be one from that order _he thought as he cut down two chaos marines, one through his stomach, and the other he sliced through the head, he heard a scream, brother marcian was felled by the many guardsmen he fought against, but nobody noticed the needle from Julian the apothecary which plunged into the librarian's neck, which kept him alive _well done Julian _he thought, just then he felt a massive amount of pain on his side, he turned quickly to face his opponent, the traitor inquisitor 'so heretic, why did you turn from his light to the darkness of chaos? 'A simple answer really' the inquisitor replied 'I despised the imperium the moment they deemed my family heretical, and not only killed them, but destroyed my home, I only survived because I sneaked in to an imperial ship, now my vengeance will now begin, and you shall be my first victim, Arcadius stepped forward and slashed three times missing him twice, the third slicing a wound on his stomach, Gazelen grimaced in pain then moved forward to strike, he swung his powerfist but Arcadius dodged the attack, then sliced into Gazelen's arm, not to be beaten he bought his powerfist above his head, fired his plasma pistol which hit Arcadius in the shoulder pad, but Arcadius managed to dodge the powerfist blow which slammed into the ground, and got stuck, Arcadius immediately kicked his pistol out of his hands, 'I am victorious, and you, will now die' he said softly to gazelen who did nothing to deflect the sword blow, for it never came, a sword pierced through Arcadius and his blood flew over gazelen's face, the chaos sergeant took his sword out and stood back, waiting for his leader to strike, gazelen, now free of the sticky ground said the dazed and wounded captain 'no I win!' and punched him square in the face with his powerfist, the captain went down on the ground, supposedly dead, Maxentius rushed over to the captain's body but was shot down by the chaos marine sergeant with his bolt pistol, by then Honorius had arrived with his squad, and the chaos marines, except the sergeant, lie dead in a bloodbath. Gazelen said the sergeant 'they are getting closer to the building, we two will withdraw and defend the ruins' the sergeant nodded, gazelen then said 'you don't talk much do you'.

The suns were going down and the battle by then was one-sided, Honorius squad had to retreat due to higher enemy numbers and immediately left the combat, the pursuers gave chase, but the mass numbers of bolters and no cover for the guardsmen, meant that they were cut down were they stood, but none retreated, Agis was pleased that they didn't run, if they did then this would be a sport than a war. His squad had engaged the heavy weapon teams at close quarters and were nearly into finishing another squad off as well, squad Marcus was assaulting the company commander in front of the tanks, Marcus was the one placed his chainsword through his stomach, Althelstan yelled in agony, but still not dying, Marcus let him go from his chainsword and helped the rest of the squad in finishing off the enemy, after they were all cut down, Marcus returned to Althelstan lay, still alive, he got his pistol and aimed it at his head, 'die heretic' he said and pulled the trigger, the commanders face was gone.

Those guardsmen that were still alive retreated into the building and the company's headquarters and prepared for the onslaught gazelen, upon seeing the death of the commander realised then that this battle was over for them, _we have failed_ he thought sadly but suddenly realised something and smirked at the thought _they came for the Intel, well they ain' going to get it _he rushed to the centre of the ruin and, amidst the sound of battle and guns discharging, he smiled at the detonator in hand he stood to full height, walked to the battlements so he could see the ultramarines coming In for the kill and shouted 'death to the false emperor'! And pressed the button.

The explosion, according to texts written by adepts, was so loud that the other half of the 3rd company could hear it, and they were fifty miles away from the battle, bits of guardsmen, brick, metal flew everywhere, some marines were hit by the shrapnel made from the blast but never were they fatal, after the explosion, the only sound heard was those of the dying, which were immediately taken silenced, gunshots were heard and then, there was nothing.

Isaac sat by the wall, gazing at the ground with sadness, for though a great victory was won here, it was also a defeat, for they Intel which they fought for were destroyed the moment the HQ was, the command squad, four terminators, four scouts, eight battle brothers from all the squads and brother avros had fallen today, which wasn't many, but to Isaac, friends and brothers died today, Tiberius walked over and sat next to him, 'the captain will live' he said to Isaac 'he won't though be able to command the 3rd for a while though, and the scouts are going after those that fled In the explosion' during the destruction, the tank crews had given up there vehicles and fled and a few over guardsmen had a fled also, 'so who's going to take command now?' Isaac said to Tiberius 'you are, its what the captain ordered before he fell unconscious again' Isaac was taken aback, he's only been a battle brother before, then a sergeant, but now as captain? 'I don't know anything about strategy or making orders, all I know is taking orders and giving them out' Tiberius smiled at the young sergeant 'that's sound like a guardsmen to me, you will do a great job, and the men are loyal to you, and would follow you into the eye of terror itself if you asked them to' Isaac knew he was right, so he stood up and walked to the centre of the battlefield, he noticed the land raider being repaired after it was immobilised by one of the tanks, but it gave a fair bite back, destroying the vanquishers main battle cannon 'brothers!' he shouted to them all 'today we have shown our determination and ruthlessness to the foe, you have shown courage and honour in the face of the enemy, and slaughtered them where they stood!' he paused impressively 'although vital intelligence was lost today, this was no defeat, for we shall fight on, and wipe them out where ever the cower, they will fear us even after death, and they will know one thing!' the ultramarines listened intensively 'that we have the faith of the emperor, we march for him and we march for Macragge!' To this the space marines shouted 'and we shall know no fear!'

The battle for Rhoda III will go on

_It was a further two weeks fighting and bloodshed when Rhoda III was liberated, around forty marines were killed in the entire campaign, while the majority didn't come out unscathed, the Cadian 246th arrived and took over, allowing the ultramarines to return to macragge, Arcadius was in the apothecarium for three weeks, before being released with new orders from the chapter master, sergeant Isaac was awarded for his leadership and skill in battle and became the company champion, twenty years later after his promotion, he was killed defending espandor from the orks. _


End file.
