Battle of Helsreach - Unexpected Blow: Such a development was grave news for the Imperial forces. The Orks possessed a great advantage in numbers, and with the access to Hel's Highway, they were able to bring this might to bear much more quickly and efficiently than they otherwise would be.To this, sadly, the defenders had no answer, and were only capable of delaying the advancing Greenskin forces, holding a junction or a chokepoint for several solar days before it was finally lost and the forces had to retreat, falling back all the quicker than ever before.As the original plans predicted, once Hel's Highway was lost, it was only a matter of time before the hive fell. In just over two solar weeks after the highway was reached for the first time by the Greenskins, the city and its defenders were devastated.The Orks had ravaged full half of the hive city's territory, the Astra Militarum and militia regiments were reduced to a fraction of their original sizes, and of the hundred Black Templars that comprised the Helsreach Crusade twenty-five lay dead -- and of this number, gene-seed from only thirteen was able to be recovered. Even the mighty god-engines of the Legio Invigilata suffered losses of their own.On the thirty-sixth solar day of the battle the situation the city found itself in proved to be far worse than expected. All of a sudden, contact with the Valdez Oil Platforms became erratic, as if there was a storm raging over the Tempest Ocean -- but there was none.Initially, the Imperial authorities in Helsreach believed that vox transmissions were being jammed, but they did not know by what -- according to their expectations, the Orks should be unable to reach the Valdez Oil Platforms even with their air forces. Communications were only made worse by the fact that the stations were understaffed.Platforms Jahannam and Sheol collapsed into the dark waters, their crews never realising what truly caused their demise. The third, largest and fully staffed platform, Lucifius, was able to identify the threat and relay the information to Helsreach, but could do little to save itself.The new force bearing down on the hive turned out to be a fleet of at least three hundred Ork Submersibles, carrying tens of thousands of new Ork warriors, due to arrive in two solar hours' time.This was the exact reason why the Greenskins had touched down in the Deadlands of Armageddon in the first place. They spent over a solar month tearing down their landing craft and constructing a mighty fleet to deal an entirely unexpected blow against the coastal hive cities.Helsreach was not their only target, for a detachment of nearly the same size as the one despatched there was sent to Hive Tempestus. Tempestus was a hive city half the size of Helsreach, with only half of its defensive capabilities, and this news spelt its inevitable doom.Helsreach itself was not in a much better position. Areas under Imperial control were centred around the very middle of the city and the docks, the latter being a vital part of infrastructure still in Imperial hands, and an important command centre after the abandonment of the headquarters spire.More than that, Helsreach docks housed the majority of the hive city's civilian shelters, located within the quarter or underneath it. These shelters housed a total 60% of the hive city's population during wartime, and losing them to the xenos savages would result in a staggering loss of life and manpower.A successful Ork seaborne strike against the docks would break the back of Imperial resistance and cause the hive city to fall within solar hours.Imperial commanders were desperate to not let that happen, and quickly considered their options -- the docks were crowded with menials and cramped with supplies, as such it would be impossible to transfer troops in time. The workers would also obstruct the Guardsmen in their actions in any way, and there was no possibility to evacuate the menials, let alone the population housed in the shelters.It was proposed to use the main highway route to send the troops into the central docks, and evacuate the workers through secondary veins, but even this would be folly, as moving any forces from the battered front immediately would see the hive city fall either way. At that point, the Helsreach dockmaster, Tomaz Maghernus, requested that he and his workers -- nearly forty thousand labourers in total -- be armed using the city's excessive small arms stockpile, and that they be used to buy the time necessary to reorganise defensive lines across the city.The Astra Militarum officers were reluctant to allow it, as the menials would likely be butchered within minutes, and if the hive city were to ever survive the war it would need a qualified workforce to continue to exist. Seeing no other way, however, Colonel Sarren agreed for this plan to commence.The newly-formed dockmen militia was organised into fifty-trooper platoons, each commanded by an Armageddon Steel Legion veteran Storm Trooper who was airdropped onto the docks, thereby ensuring that the untrained civilians performed to the best of their ability.To provide some degree of support for the militia, Sentinels and Hellhounds were moved to the docks. In addition, a force of Black Templars under their Reclusiarch's command was transferred via Thunderhawks to the docks in order to reinforce the front in critical points, and to inspire the militiamen in the face of the coming onslaught with the presence of the Emperor's Angels of Death.Soon enough, the first Ork Submersibles crashed into the docks and the Greenskins they disgorged advanced, only to be met by las-fire from the hastily-occupied Imperial defensive positions. After this initial surprise, however, the Orks assaulted with full force, and the Imperial defenders, even with the Astartes' support, had no choice but to engage in the same fighting retreat as the one occurring throughout the city.Although Imperial defenders were on the brink, the point of the entire action stood -- on the thirty-seventh solar day of the siege, the sun rose over a still unconquered city.In the meantime, Master of the Forge Jurisian succeeded in breaking the code defences of Oberon 's inner sanctum and gained entry into the tomb. Therein, he was met by a being akin in appearance to an Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-guardian, albeit an ancient one, who denied Jurisian access to the relic stored within. The Techmarine was not about to ignore his previous orders, and opted to destroy the guardian, trusting in his martial skills as an Astartes -- in an almost fatal misjudgement.The guardian was a perfectly crafted and augmented Mechanicus sentinel, being a match for any intruder, Human or otherwise. However, due to being enclosed within the vault for many centuries, and starved for the supplies needed to fully maintain its biological and augmetic components, the sentinel was a mere shadow of what it used to be.Jurisian was able to overcome the guardian, even though a different outcome was not too unlikely. Had the Master of the Forge faced a fully operational sentinel, the fight might have gone another way. Yet Jurisian finally broke all the remaining defences and stood before the relic he sought -- the holy lance of the Machine God.An Ordinatus, however, is a very sophisticated machine, requiring the staffing of dozens of Skitarii and Tech-priests specially raised for this task since birth.Jurisian, as he was alone, was only able to restore basic and slow locomotion of the relic weapon's gravitational suspensor generators, and was only able to make the great cannon fire once every twenty minutes.All of the other systems, including the machine's Void Shield generators, were inactive. Nevertheless, Jurisian proceeded to move the Ordinatus towards Helsreach.