Locuto-scribe +++ Apologist

Transcription datum +++ Thu, 2013-05-30 11:46

003: Superior Intelligence

Notable conflict

M41.788300513
At the Northern extent of the Antine front, forces from the Lamb's World CCCX and Legion Validus meet a new foe emerging unexpectedly from the ruins of Hive Superior.

+++
+Day -13: 00.02a.m. [ALT]
Unidentified fleet emerges from the warp in-system. Defence monitors scramble to intercept.

+Day -10: 01.30a.m. [ALT]
Fleet identified by as hostile ork craft as they pass Imperial monitoring station in orbit around the outermost planet in the system, Urth.

+Day -8: 06.21a.m. [ALT]
Ork fleet engaged and stymied by Tau fleet elements between Urth and the dwarf planet Pique. Four cruiser-displacement ships and numerous escorts bully their way through the Tau picket line and take up orbit around Nnuutuu.

+Day -8: 07.18a.m. [ALT]
Hive Superior comes under bombardment. Shields are raised, preventing reinforcement. Imperial forces ordered to dig in around the Zinc Oxide Spills in the lee of the hive and prepare to engage invading enemy elements.

+Day -2: 07.18a.m. [ALT]
Hive Superior shields buckle and numerous spires are burned. A battlegroup of Legio Validus arrives in the Spills, to celebration from the nervous PDF and Lamb's Worlders.

+Day -1: 02.14a.m. [ALT]
Ork forces deploy to Hive Superior. The infamous Warlord Nuzzgrond is identified through comms-leaks. The city burns as Imperial retaliation begins. Loyalist PDF begin to stream out of the city escorting refugee columns.

+Day -1: 10.01a.m. [ALT]
Imperial forces find themselves in disarray, as the four Guard columns advancing on the city find orks pouring out, shielded by mobs of terrified civilians. Heavy losses are sustained amongst advancing Imperial artillery and infantry.

+Day -1: 16.01a.m. [ALT]
Ork kommando elements launch a number of assaults against the supply train, throwing the Imperial army into confusion. Colonel Crabbins orders an about-face for the VII Superior PDF, and they disappear into the hive.

+Day -1: 19.43a.m. [ALT]
Martialis Vor of the Reaver battlegroup reports Engine Kill, confirming presence of enemy Gargant War Engines. The Vor is forced to retreat deeper into the hive in the face of a Gargant mob, and contact is lost.

+Day -1: 20.11a.m. [ALT]
Caef-Maior Huss of the Lamb's World CCCX claws back some semblance of control and establishes a safe zone from the Forum Commercia to the southern grav-rail link. Fighting descends into brutal cityfighting as the Imperials stage a fighting retreat to the Huss line.

+Day 0: 02.30a.m. [ALT]
Huss deploys advance forces to stymie the ork advance on the ruined Commerica district.

+02.45a.m. [ALT]
Ork forces are detected in the north, including War Engine displacement units.

+02.54a.m. [ALT]
The Reaver Titans Turbulens Albiorix and Mercato Stipent arrive at the head of a five-company strength Guard force.

+03.01a.m. [ALT]
More orks pour into the area – including a Gargant identified as Ragna-ork, Nuzzgrond's personal totem.

+03.05a.m. [ALT]
Stormtroopers of Hawk Harrow move up and dig-in in the face of overwhelming ork firepower.

+03.12a.m. [ALT]
A Sentinel squadron doubles forward to engage and delay ork outriders.

+03.20a.m. [ALT]
Ork heavy armour smashes through the Commercia.

+03.17a.m. [ALT]
Sentinels are reported wiped out by an airstrike from the ork fighter ace 'Squiggles'. The north-eastern flank is left open.

+03.22a.m. [ALT]
The orks advance behind Ragna-ork, as the Imperials struggle to get within range. The ork wedge breaks the Imperial forces into two wings as the central Sentinels are wiped out.

+03.24a.m. [ALT]
Mercato Stipent reports coming under fire from a warband later identified as Bogrot's Blasta Boyz. Shields hold.

+03.26a.m. [ALT]
Ragna-ork's guns bellow as it unleashes a broadside against Carver company. Dozens of men are killed, including Lief Hynri.

+03.27a.m. [ALT]
Mercato engages in a tit-for-tat assault by destroying armoured vehicles in the 'Blasta Boyz' formation.

+03.16a.m. [ALT]
Conflict escalates in the centre, as the ork forces drive forward to create a wedge between the floudering Imperial flanks. Carver company suffers heavy losses as it advances on the plaza at the front of the Cathedral. The notorious 'Bogrot's Blasta Boyz' are driven off by concentrated fire from Turbulens and Mercato as the confident Titans advance.

+03.20a.m. [ALT]
Imperial forces prepare a tentative counter-assault in the west, but the orks have an intimidatingly solid defensive line.

+03.22a.m. [ALT]
Ork outriders sweep out of the Commercia and surround the Reavers. Ork War Engine formations advance upon them, and Turbulens reports its shields are down and damage is being sustained.

+03.25a.m. [ALT]
A confident ork line begins to drive up the hill to the Cathedral plaza, jeering at the Imperials as they struggle to mount a strong counterattack.

+03.27a.m. [ALT]
An ork lieutenant identified as Wazdakka launches an immense vox-burst that scrambles Imperial communications. Even Colonel Huss cannot organise the floundering western flank, and the Armoured Company's long-range attack is half-hearted and unsuccessful.

+03.28a.m. [ALT]
An overflying long-range Marauder captures this pict, which shows the battlefield at this point in the conflict. The pilot radios a short-band burst to the encrypted Legio Validus channel, and Princeps Balto urges his infantry support to assault the encircling ork outriders behind the Reavers.

+03.29a.m. [ALT]
The ork outriders are driven off by the prompt advance of the Imperial rearguard, bringing welcome relief to the endangered Turbulens and Mercato. Princeps Balto voxes curt thanks.

+03.30a.m. [ALT]
An ork air assault begins. Hydra flak batteries drive off Squiggles and his fight-bommas, but the diversion allows a landing craft to mount a daring assault on the Imperial rearguard as they drive away the ork outriders.

+03.32a.m. [ALT]
Mercato and Turbulens' warhorns sound as they face off against Ragna-ork and the ork stompas. Setting its feet solidly, Mercato's guns fires sustained burst of its laser destroyers and a punishing hail of rockets at the Gargant. Copper boilers detonate as the power fields overload one after another. As the flickering fields collapse, Turbulens speaks, its heavy gatling fire and laser blaster blazing away at the ork titan, sending it rocking. As the smoke clears, great gouges become apparent in the hull plating, and a fire belches ugly black smoke from a lower deck... but Nuzzgrond's pride and joy is essentially unfazed. The Kaptin settles himself in the chair with a smug sneer, and prepares to give his orders.

+03.35a.m. [ALT]
The orks from the Landa pour out into determined opposition from the Imperial rearguard.

+03.36a.m. [ALT]
Colonel Huss's company pushes forward as the Enginseers finally break through the scrambling of Wazdakka's vox-burst.

+03.38a.m. [ALT]
Nuzzgrond barks his orders to his krew, and the air is filled with the scent of fyceline as the Reavers take hit after hit. The ground around the titans erupts with blasts as massive high-calibre shells shake the earth itself. A cluster of missiles smashes across the unshielded Turbulens, and light-spectrum blotches ripple like oil of Mercato's weakening voids. Thick armour baffles protect the beleaguered Titans for the most part, but before they can recover, the ork stompa mob emerges from the Commercia.

+03.39a.m. [ALT]
The Imperial Rearguard narrowly drives off the ork landa assault.

+03.40a.m. [ALT]
Nuzzgrond grins gleefully as the armoured monsters thunder forward behind Stompy the Supastompa. A few desperate shots ring out from the shot-up infantry support, but nothing can keep the orks from their prey.

+03.42a.m. [ALT]
Like dogs pulling down a bear, the Stompa mob overcomes the beleaguered Turbulens. Princeps Balto, bleeding freely, orders the head ejected, and the crew blast free. The Titan slumps to its knees, defeated.