Soldier: - ENEMY FIRE! -

Harrus: - Colonel Tairon! Colonel Tairon! Do you receive me!? -

The commissioner did his best to contact his superior, but the chaos around him seemed to have cut off all types of communication. Hundreds of men from the Astra Militarum under their control fell before an unstoppable green tide that was bearing down on them, and from a distance, they saw with horror an imposing ork almost five meters tall leading the horde. An almost immortal colossus, with its imposing metal arm and carrying a large bolter in its flesh and blood hand. A Bolter that had the symbol of the Storm Hawks engraved on its side.

Harrus: - Colonel Tairon! They have stopped the first charge! We have lost more than half of the troops! We need help!  - He was screaming with all his might into the communications device, but there was no response.

Soldier: - Commissioner! We've lost the last Chimera! We won't be able to hold on any longer! What should we do!? COMMISSAR!? -

But even in the face of the screams of his subordinate, Commissioner Harrus was not able to react. No matter where I looked, all I saw was death and violence. A sea of blood and huniformed bodies of the Astra Militarum scattered everywhere.

Harrus: - May the Emperor protect us... - He said almost with his last breath.

Explosions and the roar of gunfire saturated the battlefield. Death lurked around every corner, and the brown floors of Aten III were bathed in the chilling crimson color of blood. What was once a polluted industrial world had now become one of the worst tragedies for humanity in the Sector Obscurum but... How did we come to this?

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Outskirts of the capital city of Atem III. An hour before...

David: - Warboss... We have brought you what seems to be the human leader of this world. -

Kanan had his back to the city, staring into the endless polluted skies of Atem III. The ork attack was so brutal and fast that the planet's defense forces were not able to resist even twenty minutes against the greenskin horde. It was so overwhelming that plans to defend the positions until the Calixus Crusade forces arrived were thwarted in the first minutes of battle. What was expected to be a resistance of five days, barely lasted half a rotation of the clock's minute hand.

A couple of weeks had passed since the assault on Cantus, and many things within the horde had changed, starting with the overwhelming number of greenskins, which reached the ridiculous number of millions. And at the same time, they now had more than a hundred warships armed to the teeth, capable of fighting fair combat with some small fleets of the navy of the Empire of Mankind.

The number of vehicles in their ranks had increased overwhelmingly which numbered in the hundreds of thousands including tanks, war chariots, light vehicles and dreznaut, as well as similar but smaller sized vehicles specialized for the grentchins.

And speaking of these, what was previously a small group of barely a thousand troops under the command of David, now numbered more than a quarter of a million, all carrying the fine imperial weaponry. Their comrades called them the "orkumis" as a mockery, but they gladly embraced that nickname and were now one of the most lethal forces of the entire horde, with their own armored vehicles and special units, as some very enthusiastic grentchins had developed especially fond of fire, and now they carried flamethrower mortlaes on their backs. They did not fight head-on, and they used to hide among the overwhelming numbers, and when they reached the trenches they came out, wreaking chaos among the enemy ranks with the fires of hell. But even more importantly, they learned to fight in squads.

It may seem basic, but unlike the large horde, Kanan preferred to use these units more strategically, infiltrating enemies and attacking their weak points. And for such a task, a more organized structure was necessary. Curiously, Kanan did not take long to discover that the grentchin in general were smarter than the orks, and it was not for nothing that the majority of mechanics were grentchins.

The squads were simple. Nine troops followed a grentchin who seemed smarter than the rest, and they followed David's commands. It was the most basic, since delving into more complex organizational issues such as lieutenants and captains required a higher intellectual level. But that's how they worked... somehow.

Kurnet... didn't change much. Now it was bigger, that is, reaching five and a half meters in height. Now under his command he had several divisions of meganobility and orks who fervently followed him into battle. He was always the first to shoot and the last to shoot down the last enemy. He was born for war, and war was made for him. He was not a strategist, nor a brainiac. He charged head on and all those who were ridiculously crazy to follow him joined in his unspeakable charges against the enemies. He was lethal and precise, and he had a passion for personally taking down the enemy's best warriors. Although of course...no ordinary human being was capable of measuring up to him. Although that may be about to change.

Murrey had also changed, but more his mind and not so much his body. His intelligence had reached extraordinary levels, even being able to play a game of regicide against Kanan and force him to think for a while, which Kurnet found extremely boring, David struggled to understand, and Murrey found fascinating. The Matanzas's ability to read the battlefield became sharper, even able to foresee some movements of more experienced enemy generals, something that contrasted very well with Kurnet's brute strength, and made them an extremely dangerous duo. The mind and the sword.

Human: - Please... don't hurt me... -

He said what seemed to be the governor of the capital city of Atem III, knowing that he was useless, since there was no possible way to deal with orks, but he was greatly surprised.

Kanan- Who are you? -

Human: - I am a simple accountant of the administratum... Someone of no importance... -

Kanan: - Where is your leader? -

Human: -He fled as soon as he saw that the defenses fell... Please... Don't hurt us... Those of us in the city surrendered...-

Kurnet:-Tch...Boring...-he said with disappointment, scaring the poor human even more.

Kanan: - Murrey... Is everything ready? -

Murrey: - Yes, my lord. -

Kanan: - Very good. Turn it on... -

Human: - Wait... Don't do it... No! -

The accountant screamed in terror as he saw an ork carrying a torch in his hand. Minutes ago, the greenskins had raided the warehouses, and dumped ridiculous amounts of fuel around the city. Apparently, it was the leader's intention to reduce everything to ashes, including all its inhabitants inside.

Kanan did not turn his gaze as he saw how the black liquid immediately combusted, advancing violently through the rotting ring that surrounded the capital city of Aten III. The Warboss had no time to watch this nonsense, as his gaze was fixed on the endless sky in front of him. The planet's brownish atmosphere took on a heartbreaking reddish color as the flames rose almost ten meters high surrounding the defenseless capital city. Being the only human outside the city, the accountant watched in horror as the fire frantically advanced in a deadly burning ring, and for seconds he feared the worst for the place he once called home, yet the flames never touched a simple structure of the city.

Human: - What is...? How is that...? -He stammered, unable to understand the greenskins' intentions.

Kanan: - Mr. Accountant... It seems our talk will have to be postponed for the moment, but I can tell you that if you surrender and voluntarily give us eighty percent of the mineral resources and derivatives of this planet... your city will be able to survive for a while. more time in this disastrous universe. But for now, I must ask you to return home and think about my request. That's all. You can leave now. -

The human's face was indescribable. Never in his miserable life had he imagined a situation like this. Orks allowing surrender in exchange for resources only? It was too good to be true. He was so shocked that an ork had to pick him up and forcibly carry him out of the warlord's reach.

Kurnet: - Do you really think it will work? -He asked quite doubtfully.

Kanan: - Yes... I'm sure. Let everyone prepare... Today there will be carnage. -

After saying that, the leader turned around and walked into his troops, leaving his three hands quite excited by the words that Kanan chose to refer to the future. A term he had never used. Kurnet, Murrey and David looked up excitedly, and saw among the brown nines skies, beyond the planet's atmosphere, the Imperial ships emerging from the dystopian portals of the Warp. What they couldn't know... Was that Kanan's plan would come out to the letter.

Marine: - Marshal. The capital city of Atem III is on fire. -

Werhner: - So soon? It is assumed that Atem III's forces would be enough to hold out for at least three days. -

Marine: - We do not know the situation on land. But everything seems to indicate that the battle on the surface has ended. -

Werhner: - Those bastards... Any sign of the Ork fleet? -

Marine: - Negative. -

Werhner: - I understand. It seems that we're too late... Very well. We must move forward. Put me in touch with Colonel Tairon. -

Crewman: - Immediately. -

After pressing a few buttons, the colonel of the Krieg corps appeared on one of the screens in the command post of the fleet's flagship.

Tairon: - Marshal? -

Werhner: - Colonel. There's not much we can do now for Atem III. Deploy your troops on the surface and recover everything you can. Search for survivors and kill the orks who are straggling. I will command the main force and we will search for those bastards. He will work alongside Captain Marcus of the Storm Hawks. -

Tairon: - Understood. Over and out. -

After the military farewell by the colonel, the transmission ended.

Harrus: - What is the situation, colonel? -

Tairon: - Not very encouraging. The capital city is in flames and there is no trace of the green piles. Apparently the assault ended before we even arrived. -

Harrus: - That's not good. His tactics seem to be becoming more and more efficient. It is assumed that Atem III would have enough forces to resist until our arrival. -

Tairon: - I'm afraid the situation is more critical than we thought... Prepare your troops, commissioner. Let's go down. -

And so, the Astra Militarum troops under the command of the commissioner and the Krieg guard troops went to the transports, while preparing all the arsenal, vehicles and artillery pieces necessary to cleanse the planet. Their orders were to meet with the Storm Hawks Astartes on land, and collectively purge the planet of the remaining greenskins. What they did not know was the deadly threat that lurked from the shadows of the planet.

At the entrance to one of the many caverns in Aten III, a huge ork looked with a huge smile on his face, imagining all the enemies that could be in those enormous ships that were now in orbit.

Orko: - Why are we hide, zir? -

Kurnet: - Patience, my boyz. The Warboss promized uz that this battle would be remembered for eternity... Zo... for once... Let's follow his strange... "eztrategiez"... or whatever that iz called... -