Sgt. Rock's Winter Warzone Extravaganza!

[Sgt. Rock]

After the final vox transmission, Captain Cortado roared in anger, and slammed his fist onto the table at his camp. He'd sent a small group to reconnoiter in force, and in the field, they'd unexpectedly run into a White Scars outrider force. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, it was decided amongst all involved that it would be wisest if the two groups joined forces to continue their scouting. It was, unfortunately, not enough. As he reviewed the vox recordings and video footage taken by his battle brothers' helmet receivers, the captain pieced together the battle.

The combined force of Astartes was ambushed by an unholy alliance of Alpha Legion heretics and the cowardly Tau. Why the traitors were working with the xenos was anyone's guess, though it was likely that the Alpha Legion had some nefarious ends in mind; they were known to be nearly as manipulative as the wretched Eldar, and the Tau were almost painfully naive. It was no matter; the fact that both forces were present in the area was cause for concern. 

The Tau struck first, with one of their battlesuits destroying the Scars' Vindicator in the opening salvo. The shots must have touched off some of the ordnance within the tank, as it exploded violently, taking out both Fists and Scars alike in a hellish fireball. The traitors allowed the Tau to do most of their dirty work, as the xenos whittled away at the White Scars and the forward Scouts that the Crimson Fists had deployed. Three of the initiates were slain in the ambush before they had a chance to react. 

After the Astartes had recovered their senses, they laid into the enemy with a fury becoming the Emperor's Finest. The White Scars, to their honor and credit, cast aside any pretense of personal safety and charged the enemy, the engines on their bikes roaring like wild beasts. Their khan himself destroyed the Alpha Legion's Rhino, ending the machine spirit's suffering at last. The Crimson Fists supported them with precise fusillades of bolter and heavy weapons fire, and the scout sergeant and lone remaining initiate sought to avenge those already lost, charging the Tau infantry with shotgun and bolter blazing, annihilating one squad in the ensuing melee. The Fists' Land Speeder swung out from behind a ruin and attempted to deliver some firepower at one of the Tau commanders, but the cowardly xenos hid behind their drones, as they always did. 

By the time Lieutenant Mendoza and his Reivers landed, precious little was left of both chapters' forces. The Primaris brothers honored the chapter with their deaths, showing the same fearlessness in the face of overwhelming odds that the Scars had. The Reivers even made it to the traitor's leader, but despite their combat blades landing a flurry of blows, the foul creature emerged largely unscathed, and the brothers were slaughtered shortly after. Lieutenant Mendoza, meanwhile, charged one of the Tau battlesuits and was annihilated in a firestorm of energy blasts. Whether out of desperation or a desire for posthumous glory, none could say, though Cortado would have definitely preferred that he retreat with what remained of the Fists' forces to report on the battle and fight again another day.  The captain grimaced. To throw away battle brothers and resources in meaningless charges and hopeless last stands... that was no longer the way. After Rynn's World, Chapter Master Kantor had instilled in them the need to preserve the chapter's resources. These new Primaris brothers had yet to learn from the hard lessons of the chapter's past. Mendoza had died a meaningless death in a battle that was already lost. His bravery would be honored, of course, but Cortado secretly resented the fool for squandering what the Emperor had granted him. 

After Mendoza's death, the battle quickly ended. The remaining Fists were slaughtered to a man, with Mendoza's second in command, a much more experienced and level-headed lieutenant by the name of Bartolo, spending his last breath voxing in a final situation report. "Commend our souls to the Emperor, brother!" He had had just enough time to transmit those words before the vox cut out. 

Cortado would send a pair of Apothecaries and a small force to the site of the battle to recover as much gene-seed as possible, and he suspected that the Scars' commander would do the same. In the meantime, he had more planning to do. If both the heretics and the Tau were here, who knows what else waited on this planet to oppose them.