Antonius fought for hours.<\/p>\n The citizens of Altea, though brave, were no match for the invaders. Orks had broken out in multiple places along the line. Antonius and the surviving Azure Flames regrouped, attempting to contain the Orks. They fought for every inch of ground.<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n The Gargant laid waste to the Imperial Guard reinforcements that Antonius had called up, but their sacrifice was not in vain. Smoking holes now decorated the Gargant\u2019s chest. Its fields had finally died. That did not reduce its lethality by a hair, though. It rampaged through the city, completely unchecked.<\/p>\n Antonius initiated Contingency Obsidian.<\/p>\n This was a final order, in case of a total failure of the defensive line. All forces were to fall back toward the spaceport. Refugees were roused from their shelters and herded towards the port. The last defenders of Altea would make a desperate defense of the port while as many civilians as possible evacuated. Most would be shot down before they broke orbit. But a few could be rescued by Kolten\u2019s fleet. If they were lucky.<\/p>\n \u201cAntonius to Obscurus Task Force. I have initiated Contingency Obsidian. Prepare for instructions to co-ordinate the rescue of the civilian population.\u201d<\/p>\n An eternity seemed to pass.<\/p>\n \u201cKolten here. That contingency may be a bit premature. We just received a signal from the outer reaches of the system. Patching you in now.\u201d Kolten said in an inappropriately sing-song tone. How was she in such good humor?<\/p>\n Static dominated the vox until a familiar scratchy voice filled Antomius\u2019 ears.<\/p>\n \u201cHis Hammer II<\/i> to Azure Flames 4th<\/sup> Company.\u201d Chapter Master Liam Perseus said with warmth.<\/p>\n \u201cMy Lord!\u201d Antonius shouted. He opened the channel to all surviving Azure Flames. \u201cYour timing is impeccable.\u201d<\/p>\n Perseus\u2019 laugh was like the grating of stone on stone. \u201cAnd here I thought we were late.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe fleet.\u201d<\/p>\n Antonius made an involuntary choking noise. \u201cThe entire<\/i> fleet?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cCaptain Piers demanded it. He said he was tired of piecemeal task forces and yearned to command our whole fleet once again.\u201d<\/p>\n The familiar nasal accent of Piers, Captain of the 7th<\/sup> Company broke in. \u201cIndeed. Our estimated time to orbit is seven hours fourteen minutes, possibly more due to enemy activity.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll keep the Ork fleet off your ass, Azure Flames.\u201d Kolten chimed.<\/p>\n A stream of muttered gibberish was audible for a brief moment. \u201cIn that case\u2026\u201d Piers continued, \u201c\u2026we should be there in five hours, fifty minutes. Excellent to be flying with you again, Admiral Kolten.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve never met.\u201d Antonius said just as Kolten said \u201cWe\u2019ve never met.\u201d<\/p>\n Perseus chuckled over an audible sniff from Piers.<\/p>\n \u201cHold the line. We\u2019re on our way, Antonius.\u201d Perseus ordered.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, my Lord!\u201d Antonius shouted. He re-tuned the vox to only planetside forces. \u201cYou all heard him! Victory is at hand! Hold the line!\u201d<\/p>\n Chapter Selection Intro\u00a0 1\u00a0\u00a02\u00a0\u00a03\u00a0\u00a04\u00a0\u00a05\u00a0\u00a06\u00a0\u00a07\u00a0\u00a08\u00a0\u00a09\u00a0\u00a010\u00a0\u00a011\u00a0\u00a012\u00a0\u00a013\u00a0\u00a014\u00a0\u00a015\u00a0\u00a016\u00a0\u00a017\u00a0\u00a018\u00a0\u00a019 \u00a020 \u00a021 \u00a022\u00a0\u00a023 \u00a024 \u00a025 \u00a026 \u00a027\u00a0 28\u00a0 29\u00a0 30 \u00a031\u00a0 32 \u00a033\u00a0 34 \u00a035 \u00a036\u00a0 37\u00a0 Epilogue Antonius fought for hours. The citizens of Altea, though brave, were no match for the invaders. Orks had broken out in multiple places along the line. Antonius and the surviving Azure Flames regrouped, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7879","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fourstrandshobby.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fourstrandshobby.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fourstrandshobby.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourstrandshobby.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourstrandshobby.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7879"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourstrandshobby.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7967,"href":"https:\/\/www.fourstrandshobby.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7879\/revisions\/7967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fourstrandshobby.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.fourstrandshobby.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Azure-Flames.bmp\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<<<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 >><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"