On the Eastern plains of Mordecai...

The Duneriders moved swiftly through the ruins of Ore Processing R-15. Fires within the outpost still burned from preliminary bombardments from orbit, but the hovercraft of the Mechanicum paid them little heed as they moved across the sand-swept compound.

<Targeting logic engines have located a massing of enemy units bearing ZERO-THREE-FIVE, ONE-HUNDRED-AND-SEVEN meters.> The Dunerider pilot servitor canted.

<Composition?>

<There appears to be several units of Heretic Astartes designation Thousand Sons, sub designation Emerald Serpent. Readings indicate multiple Warp signatures, suggesting psyker activity. One Armoured unit detected.>

<Identify.>

<Identifying. Identified: Heretic Astartes Rhino, designation Iron Warriors, sub designation Blue Steel.>

<They’re making this too easy. Commence attack.>

The Forgeworld Incus’ hoverboats surged forward. In a wave of steel, the craft flowed over the rubble, carrying the main body of the force. As they manoeuvred round the buildings, the heavy weapons of the Mechanicum took up positions. Skorpious Disintergrators positioned themselves behind cover. They aimed at the Iron Warriors’ vehicle, their armaments oblivious to even the most imposing obstacle, and fired. The combined firepower ripped through the ceramite plating of the Heretic Rhino and only the quickest of reactions from the crew saved it from causing a chain reaction. It was at this point the at the Iron Warriors Havocs disembarked. Flinging aside the corpse of their fallen brother, they took up positions on the first floor of a nearby building and levelled their weapons at the advancing Dunerider boats.

“They seek to stop us with Metal Boxes?” O’Tek Ra, said to his Iron Warriors counterpart.

The stoic Iron Warrior merely grumbled as his marines took up position.

“Let us indulge them.” The Thousand Son’s warlord said, with just a hint of relish.

With the advancing hoverboats getting ever closer, the Thousand Sons called forth the empiric tides of the Warp and shifted reality around them. Displacing themselves into a prime position, the silent warriors of Magnus awaited the command from their aspiring sorcerers. When the hovercrafts were finally in range, the Iron Warriors opened fire, rupturing the closest of Duneriders and severely crippling another. As the Electopriests disembarked, the ranks of Rubrics opened fire, shutting down the hopes of the left flank getting into melee combat.

Before the ranks of the Rubrics could move onto their next target, they were cut down by withering fire from 4 Kastelan Robots which had positioned themselves ready for the Rubric advance. The few remaining Rubrics, that had survived the salvo from the Kastelans, were punctured by rapid shots from the remaining Duneriders. O’Tek Ra looked upon the field from his vantage point, his gauntleted hands, cracking the rock edge which he leaned against. The Iron Warrior signalled the fleet in orbit. It was time.

<Thousand Sons squad destroyed. Reprioritising target. Warning multiple Warp signatures. Close Proximity. Enga->

The canting of the Kastelan Robots was cut short by the thunderous barrage of Warp tainted ammunition. A hail of anti-tank and anti-personnel fire raked the Mechanicum’s most impressive of machines and one by one, were slain. Fortunately, the saviour protocols of the machines would have their revenge upon their assailants as one of the Obliterators succumbed to the Robots’ shielding. Enraged at his brother’s death, the remaining obliterator charged towards the Skitarii infantry and began its bloody work, pulping several into bloody heaps. The Thousand Son’s Sorcerer and the Iron Warriors Lord, both whom which had arrived with the obliterators, smirked beneath their helms as they watched the carnage unfold. Their joy was short lived, however, as the remaining Duneriders disgorged their cargo of Secutarii Hoplites who wasted no time in charging into the ranks of cultists. Through sheer blind luck, and a nudge from Tzeentch, many of the Hoplites were cut down before even reaching their target. The swell of cultists making it nigh impossible to kill them all. The sergeant of the Hoplites detected a large anomaly that his sensors couldn’t quite fix upon, move towards his soldiers. He looked up just in time to see a Daemon Prince of Tzeentch slash down with its claws, tearing into the ranks. Barely ten seconds had past and the ground was soaked with blood and oil.

The sorcerer looked upon the devastation of the daemon and laughed. As he was about to turn his attention towards the remaining loyalist dogs, the world tumbled. Over and over and over, his vision flipped. Sounds were muffled and the edged of his vision darkened. He was on the ground and looked up to see an assassin of the Callidus Order standing next to a decapitated Sorcerer in terminator armour. Kuu’ga spent his last remaining moments watching the sorcerer’s body tumble to the floor, wondering whose body it was.

“I’ve had enough of these games.” The Iron Warrior growled.

“Finish this now, I grow bored.”

“So we shall. Deployed the Scarabs.” O’Tek Ra whispered. Thunderclaps boomed in the distance as terminator forces deployed én masse deep within the Mechanicum lines. O’Tek Ra smiled as he pulled out a gemstone of purest black. 

“I want to see this myself.” With a reality tearing howl, a portal opened in front of O’Tek. He stepped though and out, behind the terminators, watching the remaining Mechanicum infantry cut down under blistering fire from Inferno combi-bolters.

As O’Tek watched the death unfurl, fellow sorcerers encased terminator armour arrived. Paying little heed to the small arms fire around them they began their deadly work. The first, turned his gaze towards the assassin in the Thousand Son’s lines and with a simple flick of the wrist, set the assassin’s brain alight. As the assassin burned from within, the two sorcerers began to send deadly bolts of warp lighting and fire into the Mechanicum’s general.

<ERROR! EIGHTY PERCENT OF PRIMARY ORGANS RUPTURED. LEAKING RADIATON FROM PORTS ONE, TWO, THREE AND SIX. CAPACITERS OPPERATING AT SEVENTEEN PERCENT!>

The warning lights flashed in Camin Dominus’ heads up display. He dismissed them with a thought. Unnecessary distractions. Realising that the battle was lost, he turned to the remaining Dunerider. Despite the countless munitions that had been unleashed at it, the hovercraft floated defiantly in the face of the incoming fire. As the Dominus began to head towards it, the daemon prince, that had sown a bloody tally through the ranks of the Hoplites, burst through the main body of the tank, ripping out the few remaining crew and servitors.

<By the Omnissiah!> the Dominus canted.

As he turned to flee from the carnage, the lone obliterator came around the corner of a nearby sand defence embankment and levelled his fleshmetal weapons at the Dominus. Despite the heinous wounds that the Dominus had suffered, one of the few remaining systems that was still operational was the Solar Atomisor. With heavily augmented reflexes, the Dominus aimed and fired the weapon at near point black range. Despite automatically dimming to reduce the effects, the imaging receptors burst white due to the feedback. The brief moment of satisfaction the Dominus felt melted away as what should have been a killed blow, fizzled away into the Warp. The obliterator wasted no time to allow the Dominus a second shot and unleashed a torrent of killing fire.

With two remaining Skorpious Disintergrators being all that was left of the Mechanicum force, the Daemon prince charged in, oblivious to what was going on inside the vehicles.

<We cannot let the traitor forces gain control of weapon system.>

<Agreed. To allow them use of these machines would be an affront to the Omnissiah.>

<Commencing directive SIXTY-SIX.>

As the daemon prince dived into the last of the Mechanicum’s boats, the loyal servants of the Omnissiah enacted their last action. Overloading the capacitors of both machines, the Skorpious Disintergrators exploded in a ball of fire and shrapnel. The daemon prince, drunk with the slaying of lesser beings, was caught fully in the blast of both hovercraft. The sheer strain of defending itself from the explosions was too much, and the daemon prince’s tether to the materium was severed.

O’Tek Ra surveyed the battle. A victory. Another step. One closer to daemon-hood.