To Where the Loyalists Go

1

Two men in special variants of the rare Ignatus Power Armour stood atop a cliff, overlooking the landscape. Both had Bolters slung across their backs, albeit smaller than those used by the Adeptus Astartes.

"Ey, (L/N), you seein' anything?" Asked a voice from behind them. (Y/N) lowered his binoculars and turned, seeing another male in their uniform and gear sitting on a large rock, evidently bored.

"Nothin'. Just the usual barren landscape of No Man's Land." (Y/N) replied, turning to the soldier beside him.

"Hey, Norman, how 'bout you?" Norman simply kept looking through his own binoculars.

"We got movement from the East, those Loyalist bastards are persistent." He said, blinking on a rune on his HUD which indicated communications channels before blinking once more on the rune indicating "Outpost Zeta".

"Yo, chief, we got movement from the East. From what I gather, we got some of those Guardsmen from Armageddon, some Leman Russ Battle Tanks of the Annihilator and Exterminator Patterns, and roughly counting two Baneblades."

"Since when the Hell did those bastards get so many Baneblades that they can waste two on such a small offensive?" Asked the man on the stone.

"Dunno, Perseus, maybe they got some old Factorum working again or something." Replied (Y/N), checking his Bolter's ammunition.

A crackle. "Fireteam Zeta-Six, hostiles confirmed. Make way to Site Ordeus and meet up with our forces there. You need to hold long enough so we can get the Dreadnoughts up and running."

"Copy that, makin' way." Norman replied, "Come on boys, we got some Loyalists to kill."

"Hell yeah/Ight." (Y/N)/Perseus replied respectively.

The three make their way into the treeline, soon emerging in a dirt road where an old All-Terrain-Vehicle sat.

Another one of their calling was in the driver's seat, mouthpiece retracted and sipping a cold cup of caffeine.

"Yo. We're movin'?" Greeted and asked the driver, licking his lips before the helmet closed again, and putting a lid on his cup to drink later.

"Yeah Orion, get the Warthog up and runnin' and get us to Site Ordeus." An explosion came from the distance.

"And that's our cue. Move it ladies, we got Loyalists to kill and men to sacrifice! Get in!" As he finished, he and the other two got in. Norman took the passenger's seat, Perseus the sort of storage area on the back, and (Y/N) the mounted Volkite weapon.

The vehicle screeched as its tires began turning, and soon sped off further into the dirt road.

Timeskip

The explosions from the Baneblades' and Leman Russ Tanks shook the ground as the men returned fire. Large anti-tank guns had been positioned in a few ruined buildings, firing once, twice, thrice. A Leman Russ' hull buckled from the precision of the shots and exploded.

Guardsmen, warriors of the Armageddon Steel Legion took cover and returned fire when possible, the red beams coming from their lasguns lighting up the battlefield as night encroached upon the world.

Their opponents were traitors, heretics. Bastards who would rather serve themselves than the wider Imperium, currs who deserved to die. The Steel Legionnaires continually fought and died, their uniforms partially blending into the red ground as their blood stained them.

Ordeus was always a troubled world, suffering from strife as people rose up in rebellion and revolution every few centuries whenever the Imperium reconquered it. This location was what was once its capital, Site Ordeus.

Where the Imperium first bombarded the world, and the site of their harshest assaults.

"Send up the Beastmen!" Shouted an Ordian Soldier, and the whinnies and brays of the Beastmen were his response.

Beastmen, dressed in random mixes of carapace armour, flak armour, normal clothes, or being practically half-naked charged forward.

The tall half-beasts seemed like Minotaurs, although what they actually called minotaurs were even taller. A full head and a half above a normal man, their horns were sharpened and coated in Adamantium, armed with melee weapons, Heavy Stubbers, and Lasguns.

Three Beastmen carried Flamethrowers designed like dragons, unleashing bursts of bright blue flame and burning Armageddon Steel Legionnaires before going down themselves.

The spotters, hidden in the ruins of a giant monument to something long forgotten, could see three more mechanized infantry units headed for their location. They reported it to their highest ranking officer, a man in his early twenties in the Site's FOB with a respirator on his mouth.

"Damn it." He muttered. "When the fuck are those marines getting here?" The dust on the ceiling fell as another explosion shook the ground above them.

A crackle. "Yo, Davis. We're comin' in. Those Dreadnoughts up and runnin'?" Asked Norman over the vox.

Davis wiped a cloth across his forehead, "Yes. The Technicians are awakening their Machine Spirits and the living occupants now."

Back to the battle, the Beastmen had become all but annihilated by the tanks and Heavy Stubbers of the Armageddon Steel Legion, and now began to get closer to the Ordian lines.

"What's that?" Asked a Legionnaire, looking to the man beside him who shrugged.

The Warthog shot into sight, the driver Orion using some rubble as a ramp. Norman and Perseus fired their Bolters even before the Warthog hit the ground, and (Y/N) shot a long beam of Volkite even as the transport slammed down and continued on.

Cover, rubble, and any living things were either vaporized, melted, and then burst into flames milliseconds after.

"Yeeeehhaaaaw!" Yelled (Y/N) as the bright red beam of the Volkite weapon he was manning sliced through the Loyalist forces.

The Warthog drifted and skidded to a stop right in front of the Ordian forces. Norman and Perseus hopped out, the lasfire of the surviving Steel Legionnaires seemingly having no effect on them as they quickly and methodically executed every one of the survivors from their positions.

"Move forward, secure the area. Let's get this done before dinner so we can get some sleep boys." Norman ordered as he reloaded.

(Y/N) stepped out of the vehicle and moved forward alongside Orion. Norman and Perseus went one way whilst they went another.

Within the hour, the majority of the Armageddon Steel Legion forces had been killed off in the area, and the Ordians took whoever still lived prisoner for one reason or another.

And then..

The sky caught fire.

And that was the first chapter of "To Where the Loyalists Go", inspired by "The Lost Battalion". I hope y'all liked it, and I'll see y'all later.

But do remember, any criticism is good criticism. Tell me if you liked it, if you didn't, et cetera et cetera. Sorry that this was relatively short.