[Inquisitor Rosenadel]

“Brother Balor,” came a voice that was monotone and metallic, “move your squad over the hill and fire on the closest ork vehicle to you. Make room for Squads Flint, Matthias, and I to drop in.”

“Command received, Father Gregory,” responded an equally harsh and grating voice. Balor knew that the reason the voice of Father Gregory was metallic and monotone was not because of his helmet’s speakers. Father Gregory had directed his own servitors in replacing his throat after it was crushed by an ork warboss. Consequently, he had his vocal cords replaced with an impulse receiver that allowed him to speak. He now sounded like one of the Old Ones, the Chapter’s heroes of old, who slumbered in their armoured sarcophagi. Balor’s goal had always been to emulate Iron-Father Gregory, who in turn emulated Ferrus Manus, the Primarch of the Iron Hands.

Currently, he directed his squad to climb the hill of jagged rock that would give them a view of the battle raging now between one of the huge tracked Iron Hands clan monasteries and an enormous band of Ork pirates. Balor suspected that these were no mere pirates, but part of a larger ork force moving this way. As his squad crested the hill, his fears were confirmed.

The great fortress monastery rumbled along the cracked ground of Medusa like and great mountain, bristling with weapons. As it moved, slowly and methodically, its weapons roared like the great Silver Wyrm itself. On the ground around it, ork battlewagons, trucks, and sqiggoths battered against it. There was even a Gargant present. Medusa’s evening dark was lit by the lights from the monastery, crude ork illumination, and flashes from the innumerable guns that unleashed their payloads of death. There was also light from the heated surface of ork Roks as they plummeted from the atmosphere. They could now be seen falling all across the landscape, and in the distance as well. Balor could see dull glowing spots on the horizon where he assumed the other monasteries were battle the same group of orks. This was no pirate raid; it was an enormous Waagghhh!

For all the light that shone, even the blue-white beams of his devastator squad’s lascannons were nothing compared to a ball of pure white light that nearly overloaded Balor’s visual sensors as it fell from Medusa’s sky. It burned as flaming magnesium, and descended in the crater where Ferrus Manus was first found, the Ice Pinnacle, Kaarashi. Then the fighting resumed.

But the planet joined the Iron Hands in their struggle. Great rents opened up in the ground, swallowing squiggoths whole. The mountains released great rocks that crushed whole squads of boyz. The air crackled with a mysterious energy that fried orks’ skin, charring it black.

And from the mountain, ash spewed, and there appeared a light, as metal glinting in full sun. It raced into the valley where Balor’s squad concentrated their fire, even this great sign not distracting them from their task. The light smashed into the sea of orks like a hammer. The orks turned away from the monastery to face this new and much larger threat. But they were no match for it. It drove them off, sending orks flying into the air, along with their trucks and squiggoths. It smashed its way into the Gargant, and emerged, after a few minutes, out of its smoking head.

+++

The doors to the great hall crashed open. A monstrous figure strode toward the head of the hall, towering over the assembled Iron Hands. He turned and revealed himself from under his hood. Ferrus Manus stood in the awed gaze of his chapter, alive and stronger than ever. His metal hands gestured to the Battle-brothers.

“Brothers, you have done well in my absence. You fought as I did, never wavering, never succumbing to the evil and corruption around you. You have been forged on Medusa, tempered in many long years of battle, and proven yourselves time and time again. Truly you are the Iron Hands!

“But there is little time for the praise you deserve. The Emperor is in need of us. We must make our way to Terra, and ensure that the light of humanity is not extinguished. Not one of you is to remain here. We must sacrifice our home for the sake of humanity. For we are its protectors, and we will endure as iron, despite the loss of our forge. Make ready the fleet! We leave at once!”

A great chant arose from the chapter’s Chaplains, and was repeated by all the assembled Space Marines.

“The light of justice will shine forth, for the Light of Medusa is returned! Glory to Ferrus Manus!”