Orks

As the two Ork Clans began fighting in the Warp, they soon attracted some of the creatures roaming there.

When stronger enemies attacked, the two Clans would temporarily join forces to fight them.

Once the threat was gone, the two Clans would go back to fighting each other.

It was not as though the Boss of the Blood Axes had never met the Boss of the Red Mist Clan. But the moment they met, the atmosphere between them became explosive.

The Boss of the Red Mist Clan was bigger, and he had quite a few metal implants in his body.

The reason the Red Mist Clan had first attacked the Blood Axes was simple, too.

They had been lost in the Warp for some time. Aside from the occasional Daemon they could fight to pass the time, they were bored out of their minds.

When they spotted another Ork fleet, their first instinct was to have a fight, then absorb the other clan.

But clearly, they had failed in the end.

The Blood Axes had evidently developed somewhat better technology through fighting the Imperial Army. The Red Mist Clan, however, had spent all its time fighting Warp Daemons. Those Daemons left only a few scraps behind when they died, giving the Ork Tinkerers nothing to work with.

Fighting the Blood Axes, however, had given the Red Mist Clan's power of belief a substantial boost.

Through their repeated battles, the two Ork Clans had developed something of a love-hate relationship.

To keep the boyz from getting too bored, the Bosses of the Blood Axes and the Red Mist Clan had tacitly agreed not to fight in person. Instead, their forces carried out Boarding Actions against each other every day for fun.

That continued until they found this Cruiser, which had been drifting damaged through the Warp for who knew how long. After a round of "friendly" exchanges with the Warp creatures inside, the Ork Tinkerers finally used its Warp Engine and navigation systems to bring both Clans back into realspace.

Once again, they saw planets around them, along with a nearby Space Station that looked busy even from a distance.

The two Clans joined forces again, planning to seize this hunk of metal floating in space before dividing the spoils properly.

But a single volley from the Space Station cluster destroyed a great number of their junk ships. That forced both Bosses to gather their tinkerers and find a solution.

A tinkerer from the Blood Axes was the first to think of a way.

He would make torpedoes travel a short distance through the Warp. If they bypassed the void shields entirely, the defenses naturally could not stop them.

Clearly, he succeeded.

The Blood Axes' flagship then plunged straight into the space station's suddenly weakened void shields, punching a hole through them.

Seeing what had happened, the Red Mist Clan's Ork Tinkerers immediately shouted.

"I reckon I can do that too!"

More Warp-jump Torpedoes were then launched through space, bypassing the void shields and exploding inside the space station.

Before the Imperial Fleet could get ready, the Ork junk ships embedded themselves in the Space Station like arrows.

Having maneuvered into firing positions, the Resolute and the other Imperial vessels could only look on helplessly at the Space Station cluster, a third of which was now studded with Ork ships.

Under the circumstances, opening fire was no longer an option.

The Space Station's void shields had failed, and the Ork ships were embedded in its structure. If their gunfire caused those ships to explode, no one could guarantee that the blast would not blow up the entire Space Station along with them.

If they wanted to preserve the Space Station itself, their only option was to deploy all the naval troops aboard their ships and request help from the Astra Militarum, arranging more transport barges to bring ground troops up to the station and eliminate every Ork.

This was the Mandeville Point, after all. The Space Station cluster was an extremely important facility, and it also served as a major transit hub for Imperial forces.

The Space Station cluster was also a commercial hub, a vital crossroads linking the surrounding sectors. Its value went without saying.

But before the vermin-infested Departmento Munitorum could react and allocate troops, they had to ensure the Space Station did not fall.

They also had to suppress the Ork offensive quickly. Otherwise, no one knew what the Orks might cobble together next.

After all, the station was full of metal, wrecked craft, and all sorts of miscellaneous junk.

As members of the Imperial Navy, they knew a little about the Orks' Power of Belief.

Upon receiving the Space Station commander's plea for help, the Resolute immediately began deploying its naval marines and Boarding Action teams.

The other ships did the same.

A swarm of landing pods and small craft began rushing toward the Space Station's surface.

At the same time, all the Astartes were gathered together.

They would be carrying out a more complicated mission.

The two Dark Angels volunteered to take a Thunderhawk Gunship to the Space Station ahead of the others.

They were better at gathering intelligence than the rest.

They had to locate the Ork leaders immediately and plant a teleportation beacon. The other Black Templars Astartes would then be sent through Teleportation straight to the beacon. Once they completed the decapitation strike, the Orks would scatter in panic, or even turn on one another.

That would provide the best opportunity for the landing force, which numbered only a little over a hundred thousand.

Judging by the dimensions of the ships, the strongest leaders aboard would be no more than Ork Bosses. Enemies like those were not difficult for the Astartes to handle.

The chaotic battle on the front lines, on the other hand, was no place for the Astartes.

Although these Angels of Death of the Emperor possessed superhuman reflexes and bodies, it was still perfectly possible for concentrated fire to riddle them with holes in an instant.

The protection offered by ceramite Power Armour had its limits.

Iax quietly appeared at that moment, too.

After all, this had originally been a mission Sien was supposed to take part in. But Iax had cut off Sien's hand and leg, and he had yet to recover.

So Iax insisted on completing Sien's mission in his place.

The Inquisitor had intended to object, but recalling how casually Iax had severed a Space Marine's limbs, the Inquisitor quietly backed down out of concern for personal safety.

The two Adeptus Mechanicus Sages said nothing.

Clearly, they did not believe these Orks were capable of harming Iax at all.

During this time, they had built some makeshift equipment in the Hangar and repeatedly studied the Bionic Limb Iax had made.

But the results had clearly left them speechless. Those Bionic Limbs were far tougher than ceramite Power Armour. They had even boldly tested them with power weapons.

Yet even a Chainsword had left only a faint scratch on the surface, without causing any further damage.

And according to the information they had obtained, there was more.

Iax's body had previously been struck by bolter fire, and the Iron Warriors had also attacked it with power weapons.

Yet it had remained completely unscathed.

With the Orks' crude technology, as long as Iax was a little careful, these creatures who relied on sheer numbers posed no threat to him.