Planetfall

     In the early morning hours at oupost 23, Colonel White of the Necromundan 37th prepared to inspect his cadre of troops. His first stop would be the new LeMan Russ that had arrived the night before. Reports of increased Marine activity in his quadrant had been pouring in, but the Colonel was certain that the Marines posed no threat.
     "Well, Commisar Volg, Would you think the Orlocks or the Van Saar make the better recruiting... What the hell is that?"
     Colonel White looked up at a sky which suddenly burned with the light of a half dozen meteors tearing through the atmosphere.
     "That's one hell of a meteor shower."
     Commisar Volg's words struck the Colonel like a slap, "Those aren't meteors."
     Like a parrot, the Colonel could only reply, "Those aren't meteors."
     The first of the Omega Wolves drop pods slammed into the earth on the far side of the compound and opened to reveal a Dreadnought, its Missile Launcher already spewing death on the ill-prepared forces arrayed before it.
     All around the compound pods smashed the Earth. The Colonel stood rooted in place. Wide-eyed, he stared as a pod full of Terminators crashed to earth between him and the comm-station. Another pod of jump pack equipped marines touched down 100 meters to his left. A third, also with jump packs, touched down in the center of the compound. The Terminators turned to face him and the thunder of their weapons slammed into he and his advisors. This was not how mornings on this little backwater planet were supposed to start. Across the compound he saw the largest squad of marines firing their bolt pistols into the woods across from the comm center. Combined with the fire of the Dreadnought, even from this distance he could tell there would be no hope of help from that side of the compound.
     Bloodied but not dead for the experience, the Colonel and Commissar Volg ran for cover behind a nearby rock outcropping and started directing the return fire. The Demolisher crew spun the turret around to come to bear on the Terminators, firing slightly too early. A handful of the Emperor's finest disappeared in the ball of fire. The Leman Russ which the colonel had been inspecting fired across the compound, long, and inaccurate. Obviously not all the glitches were worked out of the targeting system yet. The Colonel's Ogryn bodyguard rushed to intercept the nearby Assault Squad with a happy shout of "Oy! Lookee here, Beakies for Breakefast!". In the center of it all, the massed infantry of the 37th's HQ platoon fired volley after volley into the marines around them, with little effect. A rooftop defense laser knocked out the controls on the Omega Wolves land speeder before it had a chance to fully cancel out the drop from hyperspace. Sand and gravel flew in every direct! ions as the engines failed and the small craft made a considerably larger divot in the planet's surface. In the corner farthest from the colonel, a loud shout went up as the initial dreadnought was struck by autocannon fire and toppled clumsily to the ground. The colonel and commisar peered out over the rock embankment, trying to gauge the situation.
     On the far end, holding the comm-station remained one squad of Infantry trying to buy enough time for his Captain to call for support. On his end of the field, things looked better. The infantry platoon's Sgt had pulled his Chimera in to fire on the Terminators as well. Hopefully, enough fire put into them would send them back to whatever world they had spawned from. His bodyguard seemed to be holding their own against the marines and that was a good thing. There weren't many of them, so keeping even a few of them tied up might provide time for reinforcements.
     Then the terminators triggered another hail of shells. Unable to duck in time, both of the commanders were caught in the fire. Across the compound explosion after explosion after explosion was heard. The Terminators had crushed the Demolisher with their Chainfists and the Assaul Squad had melta bombed the Hellhound and Chimera that was Captain Penderghast's mobile HQ. Penderghast's men stumbled out only to find themselves engaged by an overwhelming number of Marines. On the left Sgt Tremblay herded his men into the fight with the Ogryn, his power sword whistling death the marines. Seeing the peril, the Marine's Sargent raised his pistol and a red cloud of mist rapidly replaced what had been Tremblay's head. His men held their ground, but seemed to lose the will to fight upon seeing their sargeant brought down so easily.
     "Perhaps now would be a wise time for us to retreat Volg." The Colonel looked over at his wounded compatriot.
     "Retreat, dear colonel, is not one of your options." With that Volg thumbed his Plasma Pistol under Col. White's chin and vaporized him. A stern grimace on his face he stood erect and raised his pistol in a final act of defiance at the terminators who were rapidly closing in on his position. The rounds from the Assault Cannon tore him in half.
     The Crew of the Leman Russ rapidly punched into reverse, but could not escape the whirling chainfists of the Omega Wolves and another explosion punctuated the end of the IG armor. On the rooftop of the comm station, Omega Marines hacked apart half of the remaining squad there. The other half leapt to their deaths off the side of the tall building to escape the fury of the marines. At the death of their Colonel, the Ogryn broke from the fight with the few remaining marines and were promptly cut down from behind. Within seconds all sound ceased save the popping of unspent tank shells.
     The black-clad commander of the Omega Wolves calmly activated his voice link. "Brother-Chaplain reporting to Cruiser. We have the Comm-Station intact. Proceed with Landing."
End.

Planetfall

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