Transmitted: Astropath
Station: Malaan
Received: Nallisea III
Date: 0878999.M41
Astropath: Prime Corinthus
Ref: ADA.IT.29141/V
Collated by: Scribe Gravus Marius
Iron Templars Intercept Ork Warlord Nazdreg
My Lords,
It is with much dismay that I must report the loss of one of our forces to the Ork Warlord known as Nazdreg. Luckily, Master Magnus survived the battle.
The Orks outnumbered Magnus' force from the start. The Iron Templars stood steady, firing into the advancing horde. Nazdreg's personal battlewagon was destroyed as the battle was engaged, killing some of his personal retinue and forcing him to walk across the battlefield. One of the Templars' veteran Devastator squads deployed in an advantageous position, and began firing krak missiles at the Orks' looted Basilisk. Their fire was mostly ineffective, as the Basilisk's crew was shaken, but the vehicle was not damaged significantly. The Orks advanced, laying down a withering curtain of fire. A handful of Marines fell to the fire, just over a half-dozen.
The Marines returned fire, killing off yet more Orks, but it didn't seem to be enough. They kept advancing, firing on the Marines. To the shock of the Iron Templars, the ground rose up in front of them, revealing a large mob of assault armed Orks with an imposing Warlord in mega-armor. The Orks' Big Mek gunned his trukk's engines, racing up to the Templars' lines and disbursing a quartet of flames at the nearest squad. The fire only killed a pair of Marines.
Magnus ordered his men to stand firm and fire on the Orks again. The trukk was destroyed, along with most of its passengers. More Orks fell within the mobs. Chaplain Torvald led his assault squad into an attack on the Big Mek and the mob of Orks that had appeared from the ground. They cut down the Big Mek and his retinue, and a pair of the Orks with the Warboss, but were quickly encircled by the rest of the large mob. The Orks reacted by advancing forward, firing again on the Iron Templars, reducing the force to almost half its starting size. The Ork Basilisk fired wildly, while the Killer Kanz in the center of the horde charged into a unit of Templars who had advanced forward.
Battle was joined on many fronts. Oh, but to see the glorious martyrs of the Iron Templars! They sold their lives dearly, each man taking three or four Orks with him. As the battle raged on, the Orks continued their relentless forward assault. Torvald and his squad held up the largest Ork mob, the Warboss clearly annoyed that he could not get past the swarm of boyz around him to attack the Chaplain. The Killer Kanz and a mob of shoota-armed Orks tore through the squad they'd assaulted, then moved on to assault another squad. They tore into that squad and another, their assault moving forward with no stop. The Marines came ill-prepared to stop these metal beasts. The Devastator squad, having finally destroyed the Basilisk, moved in and bravely joined the assault. They were cut down as well.
Master Magnus kept his brothers in the fight, rallying them with uplifting shouts. But it was too little, as Nazdreg joined the fray as well. Two Warbosses were leading the assault. Torvald fell under the blows of over a dozen Orks, but by then the Orks had been reduced to less that two-fifths of their original number. Both flanks collapsed, and the Ork horde came inward on the last of the Space Marines, assaulting them.
The Ork horde was severely diminished in size, but there were too many for the pair of Space Marines and Magnus to take them all down. Magnus bade farewell to his brothers, promising to return for their precious geneseed and to get revenge for their deaths. He slipped away from the Killer Kanz and out of the battle, returning hastily to his command to give his full report and to head out again with another force.
I pray for their eternal souls.
Loyally yours,
Scribe Gravus Marius
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