It had been six weeks before that the tide had turned on Myrlene. The Ultramarines had been hard pressed by both the forces of the Word Bearers and the World Eaters. In a series of fanatical assaults the capitols of three of the four continents on the planet had fallen.
As the traitor forces had regrouped to launch their final assault on Carthur, the XIIIth Legion Captain Galidus had been in the main council chamber of the capital of Launcel waiting for two of his brother Captains to arrive.
"The situation is dire. Intelligence estimates that we have about 2,000 Word Bearers and at least a thousand World Eaters massing for an invasion of Carthur. We have approximately 440 Astartes left to repel this invasion."
The two Astartes entered the room.
"There is still time to withdraw our forces but that would leave the civilian population vulnerable," Galius said.
"Theoretical: If we withdraw the enemy will pursue us and leave Carthur alone," he said.
"Practical: . . .," he started.
One of the others cut him off.
"Practical: the enemy forces will move on Carthur and butcher the civilian population as they have done on the three other continents."
"Theoretical: the XII and XVII Legions are not here for military conquest but for the destruction of as many civilian lives as possible."
Galius stood and drew his bolt pistol.
"You're not Creon!"
Both marines raised their hands.
"I'm not. I did not know a better way to get your attention relatively safely. Creon and Albius are both alive and relatively unharmed. May I take off my helmet?"
"You may not move a single muscle or I empty this bolt pistol into both of you," Galius said, then activated his vox system, "Guards! Get in here."
Soon the room was full of blue armoured marines most of whom had their weapons aimed at two warriors near the entrance to the room.
"You may take your helmet off now."
The man who wore the armour of Captain Creon lowered his hands to his neck and undid the clasp that held his helmet in place, there was a small hiss of air. He pulled the helmet from his head revealing a shaved head and a serpent tattoo running along the side.
"I am Chaplain Kairos of the XXth Legion. I am here to surrender to you."
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The relationship between the two men was rocky at first. As intelligence provided by the Alpha Legion operative proved useful more trust was earned and soon all of the Alpha Legion warriors, 27 in all, that had come with Kairos were allowed limited access to the capitol building outside of their make-shift cells.
Over the next six weeks the Ultramarines were able to turn the tide of the war launching raids that destroyed columns of supplies forcing the Word Bearers to delay their assault on Carthur.
The World Eaters went anyway, as Kairos had predicted they would. Without the support they needed their invasion was repulsed relatively easily with great loss.
Four weeks after the surrender of Chaplain Kairos the Ultramarines took the offensive.
Both sides sent reinforcements to the relatively unimportant world of Myrlene including massive battle titans.
Eventually the information Kairos had about the Word Bearer and World Eater deployments was exhausted or too out-of-date to be of much use. Galius determined that he would be sent to Macragge to relay other information he had to the Ultramarine high command.
But that would entail getting him off of the planet first.
Legio Audax had mobilized several maniples of titans for a renewed offensive on Carthur. They emerged dripping and plowed their way through the beach defenses onto the main alluvial plain of the massive island continent.
In their wake followed a concentrated force of Word Bearers and World Eater assault craft.
The loyalist forces were meeting only token resistance on the other continents now and were quickly called back to Carthur to defend against this new threat.
Soon Launcel was the site of heavy fighting. Contrary to the previous rampaging attacks the traitor forces had left population centers alone as they headed to the capitol.
Creon looked at Albius as the fighting moved further into the city.
"Theoretical: They know about Kairos."
Ablius said "Practical: we must move him off planet now."
Soon the Alpha Legion warriors were bundled into the transports they had somehow got into the vicinity of the city. The 25 Alpha Legion warriors were accompanied by only five Ultramarines to keep the force to a minimum size to escape notice. They did not escape notice.
As the loyalist XXth Legion column moved heavy motion was detected along the rapidly changing front. Soon five Legio Audax titans burst through the front lines in a concentrated push to cut the column off from the space port.
One of the few maniples of Astorum titans in Ultramar was the only force available to counter the traitor threat.
The Audax titans and the few Malinax knight that had been able to follow in their wake were not shy about starting the attack.
Launcel was mostly intact in this area of the city, the fighting having been held back and only a few of the buildings that the traitor forces wound their way through or moved around had been damaged.
The Astorum force consisted of a maniple of three Reavers and a maniple of three warhounds. A small banner of Vornherr knights ran along side them.
As the two forces drew closer the column of Astartes slowed their advance. One of the Astorum warhounds moved ahead of the column overconfidently attempting to clear the way.
Soon two Ember Wolves titans were moving rapidly towards it, their Ursus claws discharged and caught into the Warp Runners carapace and the traitor titans quickly and nimbly changed directions. The Astorum titan skidded sideways, pistons and joints in the legs of the titan were smashed apart as it barely managed to remain standing.
The remaining Audax titans trained their fire on the approaching loyalist knights. The noble banner was ripped apart in a hail of bolter shells and plasma but emerged to try to drive back the traitors only to be assaulted by knight armours from House Malinax.
The latter outnumbering their foe 2:1 and catching them off guard quickly dispatched the loyalist knights and the traitors advanced en masse.
One Astorum Reaver was trying to get behind the traitor line and fired on a unit of Malinax laners as the drew level with them. The volcano cannon shot vaporized one of the knights but drew the ire of the other who ran at the engine more than twice its size.
Not able to match the agility of the smaller machined the Warp Runner tried to escape it to seek more viable targets but the machine spirit seized control of the machine driving it directly at the enemy.
This momentary loss of control was all the furious knight needed and it drove on the rear armour of the Warp Runner. Driving its lance again and again into the titanic engine, it lance driving deep gouges into the machine severing important power couplings and cables. The titan crashed to the ground and the knight sped over its broken form to rejoin the main part of the battle.
As the knight moved through the buildings he could see the remains of the lead Warp Runner warhound down amidst some of the few wrecked buildings.
The two other loyalist warhounds had moved up to guard the convoy while a reaver was backing them up and the last reavers was moving to flank the Ember Wolves if they moved up the main roadway.
The leader Audax titan charged towards the column its megabolters blazing. With the Warp Runner titan standing so close the shells burst on its void shields and soon the Ember Wolf changed his target.
With his void shields down one of his weapons was ripped away in enfilading fire as he charged into the Warp Runner warhound.
With a savage kick the Audax engine shattered the knee of his opponent, cause it to suddenly fall forward. So close were the opponents that the fall cause the Warp Runner warhound to smash into the alread damaged head of the traitor titan causing the structure to give way under the weight of the falling titan. The crew were instantly crushed and both titans fell away from each other into heaps of ruined metal.
The Audax titans tried their Ursus claws again, but this time the enemy reacted to their attempt to drag him and pulled them instead. After the engagement one of the Ember Wolves weapons hung limp and ruined at its side and both had sustained damage to their legs.
The Malinax knights leapt through the wreckage and attacked the Reaver in support of the line. They drove on it fiercely and it retreated before their nimble attacks, firing down at the knight armours at its feet.
With the Reaver near distracted and only one warhound left the two Warhounds that had tried to drag the Reaver down now attacked the column of Astartes, the last Astorum Warhound moved to stop them. With its void shields collapsed the burning rain of promethium that fell on the Ember Wolf damaged vital circuits and then the almost point blank fire of a heavy bolter tore through its structure.
The Warp Runners attempted defense of the column back fired as the Audax titan's plasma reactor melted down and it exploded. The sun-hot waves of energy instantly vaporized the even the hull of the land raider and washed over the Astorum titan that had inflicted the killing blow knocking it back and driving it into the asphalt. It did not rise.
Through the blazing rubble the Malinax lancer now emerged and ran straight for the Reaver deviled by his brother knights.
With an insane scream echoing from the amplifiers in its armour the Malinax lancer fell on the Reaver. It leapt at the last moment driving it's lance into the heart of the titan's body. The momentum of the charge carried the weapon to the core of the engine and it shut down, stumbling forward as it did so. The questoris knights were not quick enough to quite escape the random motion of the titan and one was crushed as it moved forward the other darting out of the way only to be crushed as the titan fell backward onto it.
The lancer, failing to withdraw its weapon so deep had it been thrust into the titan was carried with the titan and shaken to pieces with momentum of the machine's fall.
Where two of the remaining three Audax titans had been dueling with the last of the Warp Runner Reavers, the third Ember Wolf now joined the fray. As it's mega bolter stripped the shields from the larger warmachine the energy weaponry of the other two machines carved away weapons and armour alike.
Loyalist reinforcements were drawing near and the Ember Wolves, satisfied with completing their objective and destroying five enemy titans at a cost of only two of their own retreated. With its shields compromised and two of its three weapons disabled the remaining Warp Runner was content to watch them go.