Siege of Vraks - The Battle for Gate 579-459: Whilst Colonel Thyran of the 143rd regiment planned the assault, Commissar-General Maugh would lead it from the front. As ever, tanks and infantry would attack behind a sustained barrage. The Reaver Titans Astor Tyrannis and Aeacus Ultra would support the regiment's assault. Their job would be to target the walls and gate with their heaviest weapons and blast the breaches the infantry and tanks would need.The outgoing bombardment whined and rumbled overhead as Commissar- General Maugh climbed into the turret of his Leman Russ, Landwaster, from which he would lead the attack. He watched through his surveyor, intent upon the distant curtain wall, now shrouded in flame streaked smoke as the thundenng barrage rolled over it. He gave his driver the order to advance, and waved the tanks around him to follow before slamming down the hatch above him as he dropped into his seat In seconds the first Leman Russ squadrons were advancing, pitching and rolling over the artillery churned ground.As the 143rd advanced toward its objectives, the Titan's missile pods launched salvoes upon the objective. As they closed in, enemy fire concentrated and thickened. Inside the hull of his tank, Commissar Maugh could hear the pattering of bullets against the front glacis and the whine of larger calibre rounds that flashed close by. His gunner and loader were hard at work, sending shell after shell arching towards the wall’s parapet, high explosive rounds to suppress enemy firing positions. All along the firing line others were doing likewise but despite the intense fire the enemy counter-attacked. A ragged horde launched itself through the gateway, its armoured doors rolling back as infantry, tanks, artillery and spider-like walking machines rushed through. Enemy artillery was falling about them now, adding to the din and confusion of battle. The Commissar-General felt the tank jolt as it lurched forward again, the cannon barrel depressing to target the new threat. Then suddenly, in a blinding flash of light it was hit. A shell blast tore through the front armour of the turret - a direct hit that decapitated the gunner and incinerated the loader in a fraction of a second. The shell passed by Maugh's shoulder. Instinctively he reached for the hatch release and leapt up to escape. As he clambered out and jumped down, the turret erupted behind him. Its ammunition store had detonated, a searing hot orange fireball mushroomed into the sky. The force of the explosion threw the Commissar- General away from the stricken tank, a smoking piece of shrapnel wedged through his left shoulder blade. Grievously wounded, the Commissar- General writhed on the ground, calling for aid, then blacked out.Black smoke was still swirling about him when the Commissar came round, the twisted hulk of his Leman Russ was belching it high into the air. Around him the battle continued. Men were fighting, firing their weapons left and right. The shape of tanks emerged through the smoke and dust, then vanished again like wraiths. The Commissar-General had lost his communicator. He had no idea how the battle was progressing. Grimacing in pain he slowly rose, his crisp black uniform now scorched, blood-soaked and caked in mud. Then, through the smoke, the enemy arrived. Their counter-attack must have pushed the Krieg forces back and the enemy had reached him. Commissar Maugh fumbled for his powersword, by good fortune it was still in its scabbard, and he yanked it free. The first enemy to approach was a huge man, dwarfing the Commissar, his armour painted the deep red of arterial blood. His eyes glowed with malign power. In one hand he carried a massive chain axe, the other was a powerfist, crackling with energy. The traitor-lord saw the wounded Commissar and locked him in his sights.Commissar Maugh raised his sword and thumbed the power-stud, it crackled into life just as the Khorne champion charged. Weakened by blood loss. Maugh was slow to react, the first sweep of the champion's axe smashed aside his parry and sent him sprawling backwards, falling again. The traitor- enemy loomed above him, laughing through a facemask of fanged teeth. Maugh tried to roll away, but the pain of his wounds crippled him, leaving him defenceless. Unable to save himself the Commissar-General simply stared defiantly into his foe's bitter face. It was whizened and old, skin pulled taut over his skull in a rictus of death. Then the enemy's powerfist reached out to crush him...The death of Commissar-General Maugh did not end the battle. The Krieg forces had been pushed back by the sudden counter and the arrival of Khornate Berserkers and Chaos Terminators, but the guardsmen's numbers soon began to tell and more tanks thrust towards the gate again. Meanwhile, repeated impacts from the Titan Aeacus Ultra's melta cannon had vaporised the gate and brought down the parapet above it. The gate towers were being smashed into rubble by artillery impacts and tank fire.Across the still smoking rubble the battle surged to and fro. Amidst the smoke and din the Kneg guardsmen rushed the remains of the gate, bayonets fixed, only to be thrown back by the warriors of Khorne. Berserkers with chainaxes in hand plunged into the fray, leaving a tide of destruction where the two sides met. Zhufor was amongst them, a towering powerhouse, his axe dripping gore. With him were his Terminator bodyguard, each a battle-harden veteran of hundreds of battlefields. All day and through the night they fought as artillery rounds howled around them, each side's shelling now mingled together into one furious barrage.For two more days the Krieg guardsmen threw themselves into the breach, and each time were bloodily repulsed, rifts no were mere accident, there was a malevolent will behind them. Surely, Cardinal Xaphan and his entourage would not yet be able to manipulate the powers of the Warp to summon Daemons, but the Chaos Space Marines warbands could. Inquisitor Rex requested that his old mentor, Inquisitor Lord Malkin set about discovering who or what was behind it.Inquisitor Malkin was happy to oblige. It was his work that would later revel the story behind Zhufor’s rise and the construction of the warp portal by the Sanctified. In the meantime the Grey Knights responded and dispatched a second strike force to Vraks to reinforce Stern’s brothers. Arriving at 996828.M41, Brother Captain Arturus joined his battle brothers on the frontline.