"Come in, Crotaline. War-cruiser Crotaline, please respond. "it's no good Primarch. I can´t raise the Crotaline; the War-cruiser Lacertian must have got her"
Roboute Gulliman nodded gravely.
"We'll just have to take them on alone. Though without a barrage to soften them up, it'll be a harder fight than i'd anticipated. it may even delay our departure.
"Still, that's a consideration for later, There are more pressing problems. Prepare the men and start the ceremony; I shall be along in a moment."
Brother-Captain Karrack nodded as carefully he made his way down the treacherous rockface to the commandpost.
Gulliman looked across the valley,towards the clouds of smoke that sprawled across the horison. Though they were half-hidden by the thick red-brown plumes, he could just see the flattened carapaces of the Traitor Warlords.
At this range their huge back banners were no more than tiny black specks fluttering in the breeze, and the hundreds of armoured machines that swarmed around the Titans 'feet looked less threatening than a swarm of ants.
"The Word Bearers; the whole Chapter on the field at once." Gulliman allowed himself a ironic smile.
'A remarkable event, even more so now that the Ultramarines stand ready to face them."
Gulliman heard Karrack coming back,the noise of his boots trying to get a grip on the rockface breaking Gulliman's silent contemplation.
"To think it should come to this Primarch - Brother versus Brother" Gulliman nodded as Karrack returned to his side, obviously upset that the enemy were Marines. "May Horus rot in oblivion for his treachery."
Gulliman understood the Captain's anger; he knew the men were feeling it too.
'Aye, Barrack. Damn his eternal soul if you want. You must admit though, the way he caught us was a masterful stroke."
Karrack either didn't hear the comment,or ignored it; he was more worried about the enemy, now only hundreds of yards away. Urgently, he requested that Gulliman give the order to fight "The men are ready and await your command, Primarch."
Gulliman stood for a moment, not taking his eyes off the approaching Traitors. 'A command i thought i'd never make,
even in my most terrifying nightmares."He glanced over his shoulder at the uncomfortable Captain. "Give them the command to charge, Captain, and pray the Emperor will forgive us all. Tell them they must kill their Brother Marines."
A sheet of shells arced across thesky, a curtain of death that burst the Word Bearers' ranks in a storm of greasy, black smoke and shrapnel.
The first wave of troops disappeared as the ground melted, the rock becoming molten around their feet. Fifty vehicles vanished in a mist of vapourised metal as they were slowly sucked into the lake of steaming plasma, the dull crump of their power units sending columns of flame into the air as they exploded.
Gulliman watched as his men charged into battle. He winced as a dozen detachments fell to Land Raider fire,watched the bright beams of light cut through the Marines' ranks. He saw his men being cut apart by their fellow Marines; the horror of the situation wasn't lost on him, and he despaired at the pointless loss of life. He barked his orders into the comlink, trying to out think his fellow Primarch."More support on the left side. They're trying to outflank our Rhinos."
He watched as eighty Land Raiders responded instantaneously, tracks spraying mud as they swung to the left and cut off the Traitors 'advance. The tanks sped across the battered landscape and crashed into the enemy, their guns blazing. A hundred square yards of the battlefield burnt with a bright, white light as the Traitors were felled by a glowing mesh of laser bolts.
"Make sure you keep them pinned down; they mustn't gain the advantage."
His adrenalin flowing and his mind racing, Gulliman reeled out his commands. A company of Marines, now down to half their original number; surged over the wreckage of the enemy's vehicles. They ran low and hard, heading for the abandoned city that smothered one side of the valley, sticking to the shadows caused by the tall black buildings that blotted out the darkening sky.
With indoctrinated calmness they setup a defensive position; within minutes a stream of crack missiles screamed from the shattered windows, the whistle of their flight punctuated by the sharp thud of another successful hit.
Stranded behind what little cover they had, the Traitors couldn't avoid the concentrated volley of fire that thumped into the dirt around them. The casualties were uncountable, many were simply buried under the crumbling rock. The price in geneseed was high.
Gulliman nodded his approval to Karrack. "We have them on the run, my friend I think victory is close."He stared into the Captain's eyes, his mouth tensed into a line. "The Emperor is with us this day. We enjoy his..." The sentence trailed away as Gulliman watched the Word Bearers rally. The first Traitors that broke cover were torn apart, but with each successive wave they made more ground, until they were finally assaulting the Utramarines 'positions. Gulliman's men had lost the advantage, and were now easy prey to the Traitor Land Raiders.
He had expected losses - but even Roboute Gulliman hadn't anticipated what happened next: as one, the wordBearers' Land Raiders and Whirlwind missile carriers spun on the spot and sprayed the nearest building with everything they had. The Librarium shook for a moment, then caved in on itself in a cloud of dust. There was a deathly silence as the rubble sealed. Two hundred Ultramarines were buried alive.
Gulliman cursed, and thumped a nearby rock in frustrution. The outcrop exploded in a hail of chippings as his fist slammed into it, the impact of the power field blasting the granite apart.
"Karrack!" Gulliman spun round and snapped at the stunned Captain. "Get me the Crotaline now! We need enough supporting fire to blast that scum off the face of this planet."He turned to look at the traitors, His voice dropping to a harsh whisper "Even if they are Marines."