Battle of Helsreach - Arrival of the Fireborn: While the war raged on the surface of Armageddon, the war in orbit never truly ceased. Although the space battle was lost in the first days of the invasion and the combined Imperial Navy and Adeptus Astartes fleet elements were forced to retreat, they did not abandon the world.Every few solar days, the fleet under either Admiral Parol's or High Marshal Helbrecht's command would translate out of the Warp in close vicinity to the besieged planet, strike at the weakest point of the xenos armada and bleed the Greenskins however possible before escaping once again.Imperial naval assets could not face the Ork fleet in outright battle or send reinforcements to the world with any certainty that they would reach the ground, and instead had to resort to such attritional warfare.However, Chapter Master Tu'Shan of the Salamanders Chapter, whilst battling along the River Hemlock on the planet, heard of Helsreach's plight and of the Black Templars' valour in defending the populace of the city.He demanded that the risk be taken and that reinforcements be sent down into the hive city, and his Astartes carried out his will. During one of the aforementioned naval attacks, a single strike cruiser of the Chapter requested from Helsreach command the cessation of anti-air fire in the docks district and ran the gauntlet of enemy fire to release Drop Pods and Thunderhawk gunships from a safe distance.The Salamanders under the command of Sergeant V'reth arrived in Helsreach, seventy in number, to aid the defenders. However, the majority of their Chapter fought in the Hemlock region alongside the Legio Ignatum and Legio Invigilata. The Salamanders fight was there, and they would not stay in the city indefinitely. They were called down only to help secure the docks quarter and protect the civilian populace.Although their stay was temporary, the Salamanders' aid proved to be vital. Over the following days Imperial forces battled against the seaborne invaders, and with the help of nearly an entire company of Astartes, they succeeded in breaking the assault and in dispersing the xenos.Without the Salamanders' valour, many more lives would have been lost and perhaps even the city would have fallen, however, although the docks were not lost, for all intents and purposes they were gone.In addition to losing fourty thousand soldiers in four solar days, almost all of the city's industry was ground into the bedrock. And once the fighting for the docks finished, the Salamanders left the city and returned to the Hemlock region, as per their master's request.Although the hive city had survived the seaborne assault and the battle up to this point, the high command simply did not possess enough forces to hold large swathes of territory and maintain a broad front.In accordance with Commissar Yarrick's orders, units in Helsreach were to follow the same pattern used in other hive cities. Whatever forces remained were to converge on the main population centres and strategically important locations such as the Azal Spaceport or the Temple of the Emperor Ascendant, defending them until the end finally came to tie up as much of the Orks' strength as possible.The hive city was declared lost, and the only thing left to protect was its population.