"..."
Inside the command post, the static on the communications channel echoed within his helmet, like a taut metal wire trembling faintly. The commander here, Captain Timon of the Ultramarines, stood silently before the tactical map of this temporary command post.
The tactical hololith before him displayed a miniature map of the entire vast city. Blue markers represented their own Imperial forces—or rather, the positions of their Ultramarines Legion—while red markers represented the areas of activity of the enemy Chaos forces. The enemy had already been tightly confined within that shielded fortress, unable to move.
Yet just as they were about to take the fortress, just as they were about to completely eradicate the fortress-city occupied by the largest Chaos force on this planet, a group of unwelcome guests came along and ruined everything.
That was right!
They were those damned Ork beasts, those monsters with overdeveloped limbs and underdeveloped brains!
Ten days ago, for reasons unknown, they had suddenly appeared on the outskirts of the city. Then, from among the ruins, they brazenly launched despicable ambushes against one patrol after another. Before long, they were locked in fierce battle with the Imperium of Man's forces around the city's perimeter.
At this moment, the green areas on the map marked the regions where those Ork beasts were active. Like a spreading, uncontrollable mold, they clung stubbornly to the city's middle and outer districts, impossible to clear away.
Ten days. A full ten days.
Those green-skinned beasts seemed able to crawl endlessly from cracks in the ground, wave after wave after wave. They could not be driven off, could not be wiped out, could not be beaten back. And even when they retreated, they always returned!
They never ventured deep into the battle lines. Instead, while the Imperial forces fought bitterly