Infestation of Drashin - Relief of Black Ridge: Meanwhile, on what the 7th Company's Chaplain had wryly referred to as "Bleak Ridge" before a strangler-beast had torn him apart, Captain Jonas had resolved to die with pride.Before him lay the wreckage of three Thunderhawk gunships; behind him, the space hulk's flank towered into the sky. Hours earlier, Pugh had led the 1st and 5th Companies through a rent in the adamantium leviathan's hide, ordering Captains Jonas and Terrell to hold their battle-brothers back to act as rearguard.Initially, the combined firepower of the 7th and 9th Companies had been more than a match for the Tyranids but, about a solar hour previously, the swarms had grown in size and flown into a desperate frenzy. Jonas didn't care why; he knew only that he would keep firing until his magazine ran dry, and would then tear the beasts apart with his bare hands until strength finally left him.Captain Terrell could do little of either, for he had been blinded by a spray of acid, but still he took pride in his battle-brothers' efforts as he bellowed encouragement. It mattered not that they were Reserve Companies -- that day they fought with vigour fit to shame the Veterans of a hundred younger Chapters.Another wave of Termagants massed beneath Bleak Ridge, and Jonas prepared a sally to clear the slopes, as he had done a dozen times since taking up position. Tyranid Warriors and Carnifexes were advancing in the middle-distance and he wanted the chaff cleared away before they reached his line.The captain raised his Power Sword high, but before he could give the order, bolter shells hammered out of the spore clouds to the west, and the 3rd Company crashed into the swarm of Gaunts. Garadon led the charge; Chaplain Markov came close behind, his voice raised in a wrathful litany.Moments later, three banners stood proud atop Bleak Ridge, and the next Tyranid attack wave fared no better than those that had come before it. Taking up position amongst the 7th Company's battle-depleted squads, the 3rd sent salvo after salvo into the advancing Tyranid Warriors, leaving the heavier weapons of the 9th Company's Devastator Squads to focus their fire on the monsters beyond.Yet still the Tyranids came, hurling themselves at Bleak Ridge. Again and again bolters roared. The air whistled to the shrill reports of Plasma Guns and Missile Launchers, but still the swarm crashed against the Imperials Fists' line. Tyrannofexes stomped forward, their sprays of Fleshborer beetles rattling against power armour before Lascannons brought them down.Spore Mines exploded upon the ridge, killing or injuring the Space Marines in ones and twos. Terrell was still at the rear, bellowing encouragement at his brothers, all the while ignoring the searing pain from his ravaged eyes. Jonas was still issuing orders, his voice brittle with his hatred for the creatures that mustered below.Increasingly, though, those Imperial Fists who fought on the heights now listened for Garadon's calm voice as he directed the defenders' fire with an efficiency learned over thirty Terran years of service and honed under Lysander's tutelage. Then a Bio-Titan emerged out of the swirling spores, and Garadon knew that the ridge was lost. He was about to order his brothers to withdraw inside the space hulk, when an ear-splitting boom sounded overhead.Lysander's Thunderhawk had fared better than Garadon's during the descent, but not by any great margin. A glancing collision with a Harridan had sent the flyer spiralling out of control and away from the battle. In the end, it had made a jarring touchdown some eighty Terran kilometres from Garadon's position, and Lysander had watched with growing and impotent fury as Brother Karazan struggled to restore the wounded gunship to full function.The skies above had been kept relatively clear by the Stormtalons of the Swords of Polux, who had shredded any winged bio-beast that strayed too close. Now, after a fraught delay, Lysander's Thunderhawk joined the Battle for Bleak Ridge.A barrage of fire from the Thunderhawk's Turbolaser and Hellstrike Missiles tore great holes in the Bio-Titan. The Hierophant gave a thunderous roar and brought its Bio-Cannon about to target the newcomer.It stumbled forwards as a volley of Lascannon-fire from Bleak Ridge sheared off one of its forelegs. Before the beast could recover, a second shot from the Thunderhawk's Turbolaser tore its skull to ruin, and it toppled over into a pool of lava.Coming in low, Lysander's gunship swept across the battlefield, its Heavy Bolters tracking synapse nodes and drowning them in heavy-calibre shells. At once, the Tyranid swarm shuddered as the feedback rolled through the Hive Mind.As the attackers recoiled, the Thunderhawk touched down on Bleak Ridge and Lysander led the Centurions out into the battle. After receiving reports from Garadon and Jonas, Lysander ordered his two Dreadnoughts to join the defence of the ridge, then led the Centurions into the space hulk's bowels.