Geratomran Reconquest - Race To Victory: During Bannick's absence, Hannick's health had greatly deteriorated so that the briefing was frequently interrupted by his violent fits of coughing which left him out of breath. Still, Hannick insisted upon conducting the briefing himself.In less than 24 solar hours, the Archenemy had managed to turn the tables upon the soldiers of the Astra Militarum. As soon as the Chaos fleet had reached Geratomro's orbit, it had begun landing its troops, mostly small mobile units which immediately began to attack the army's lines of reinforcements and supply-lines. It was just such a group that Cortein's Honour had encountered.Stretched out over a large front, the Imperial units been butchered, the army now encamped at the gate of the enemy capital cut off from its rear lines. The 7th Company itself had lost all its supporting elements to just such an attack, which considerably weakened their abilities off the battlefield. The enemy had the sense not to engage the remainder of the 7th, but had focused its attention on destroying the company's support elements: the troop-transport conveying the company's Tech-adepts, the mobile manufactoria, the motive shrine and the Atlas Recovery Tanks. All had been lost in the enemy attack.The situation in orbit was as chaotic as on the ground, with the enemy fleet holding positions above Magor's Seat and still in the process of landing yet more troops on Geratomro. The Imperial Navy had maneuvered to protect the castella, both fleets fighting at what was for them point-blank range. Several Chaos attacks on the castella had already been repelled with the aid of the Imperial fleet. The Imperial Navy's bombardments kept the base safe from further ground attacks and an orbital assault by the Chaos Fleet. Both fleets were waging a fierce naval battle for control of the world's orbital space above their heads.The Chaos troops on Geratomro's surface had yet to receive their heaviest elements, for amidst the vessels of the Chaos fleet was a huge transport vessel akin to an Ark Mechanicus. This meant that within the next several solar days the enemy would benefit from the arrival of dreaded Chaos Titans.The prospect of facing the powerful engines of destruction of one of the dreaded Traitor Titan Legions struck fear in most Imperial hearts. While the Astra Militarum encampment benefited from the support of a small detachment of Titans from the Legio Crucis, these included only two of the lighter god-engines, the Warhound-class Scout Titan War's Gift and Princeps Yolandesh's own steed, the Reaver-class Battle Titan Ultimate Sanction. This represented too small a force to successfully face the mightiest creations of the Dark Mechanicum.To counter this threat, Captain-General Iskhandrian had ordered the battlegroup's three Super Heavy Tank Companies -- the 18th Atraxian and the 7th and 8th Paragonian -- to form two ad-hoc units, Groups Epsilon and Ultra, which would be placed directly under the command of Princeps Yolandesh.While Group Epsilon would support the army's advance on Magor's Seat and act as bait for the enemy Titans, Group Ultra would include all the Imperial army's Shadowswords and lay an ambush for the Chaos god-engines At the same time, Iskhandrian revoked his order limiting collateral damage, for any fight involving Space Marines would be a difficult one that required his troops to unleash every weapon at their disposal.Almost as an afterthought, Honoured Captain Hannick informed his officers that an Inquisitor named Lord Militant Vesh had attached himself to the army's command staff and had begun issuing orders of his own -- every tank of the 7th Paragonian Super-Heavy Company would henceforth be accompanied by a Commissar.In truth, Imperial High Command had not shared all of its intelligence with the troops on the ground. Inquisitor Vesh had recognised that the Emperor's Children were employing delaying tactics and that the enemy was fixated on achieving its victory through unconventional means. All pretense at strategy was dropped for one desperate and mad dash for Magor's Seat, a final attack that would decide the fate of Geratomro.