Battle of Helsreach - Prelude: Like many other cities on the sub-contients of Armageddon Prime and Secundus, Helsreach was not spared from the wrath of the Ork hordes during the Second War for Armageddon. At the time, the xenos were drawn to the hive city from the jungle where they had landed by its importance as an industrial port, as well as by the prospect of a good fight.Helsreach was devastated by the battle, but it was eventually rebuilt, and when the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka launched his second, far larger invasion of the world exactly fifty-seven standard years later, Helsreach once again came to the Orks' attention, thanks to these same qualities.Helsreach was a formidable fortress in itself, surrounded by vast walls as tall as a Titan, reinforced with artillery positions and dotted with anti-air battery emplacements that could strike all but the largest of targets from the sky. In addition to these fortifications, it also enjoyed the protection offered by the waters of the Tempest Ocean.One particularly notable feature of the city was Hel's Highway -- a colossal roadway linking the city to Hive Infernus, leading into Helsreach and splintering into lesser ways throughout the entire city.Whoever controlled the Highway could move armour and Titans twice as fast as if they had to stalk through the hive towers and city blocks. For all intents and purposes, Hel's Highway was Helsreach's chief artery, its lifeline. If it was lost, the city would be overrun.Imperial authorities were aware of the inevitable attack, and used what little time and resources they had to reinforce the city. Helsreach was garrisonned by the 121st Armageddon Steel Legion under the command of Colonel Insan. Sadly, however, the colonel died several solar weeks before the beginning of the war as a result of augmetic heart infusers failure, only six solar months after he had received them.His second in command requested to his superiors that Colonel Sarren of the 101st Armageddon Steel Legion take command of the hive city's defence. The 101st was stationed at Hades Hive, the place where Ghazghkull Thraka was stopped during his first attempt to conquer the world, the city being a shadow of its former self, still ruined after the last war.Commissar Yarrick believed that because Ghazghkull was defeated there, and since the hive city could not offer the Orks a good fight, the Ork Warlord would order the hive obliterated from orbit -- an assumption that later proved to be correct.Thus, Yarrick ordered the forces from Hades Hive to be relocated, and as such, General Vladimir Nikita Kurov, the overall commander of the Armageddon Steel Legion forces on the world, agreed to relocate Sarren and his forces to Helsreach.In addition to these and other Astra Militarum regiments, the city's defence force was bolstered with militia regiments formed from the hive's inhabitants, both volunteers and conscripts. The Imperial Navy contributed to the city's defence as well, sending several Aeronautica Imperialis squadrons under Commander Korten Barasath to battle Ork Fighta-bommerz in the skies over Helsreach.The city was further bolstered by the arrival of the Space Marines of the Black Templars Helsreach Crusade. The Black Templars came in great force to Armageddon, sending three crusades on the surface, and participating in the orbital naval battle, the purpose of which was to thin out Ork forces prior to their landing on the planet proper, totalling nine hundred Astartes.A hundred of those were sent to Helsreach under the command of Reclusiarch Grimaldus. The Space Marines, although expert warriors, proved to be problematic due to their outright contempt for lesser, "mortal" Humans, and due to their seeming inability to cooperate with other forces in the city to any reliable degree -- this largely due to their commanding Reclusiarch's humours.Grimaldus had been only recently promoted to the rank of Reclusiarch following his master's death, as the last will of his tutor was that Grimaldus take his mantle as Reclusiarch of the Eternal Crusade. The leaders of the Chapter parlayed on the matter and decided to comply. Grimaldus himself was beset by doubt as he thought of himself as unprepared to assume and perform his master's duties as a leader of the Chapter.As Reclusiarch he sought to emulate his predecessor, and lived in his former mentor's shadow. In addition to this, he was deeply dissatisfied with his crusade to Helsreach, which he perceived to be nothing more than exile.He believed that he would die fruitlessly on this world -- which was to be, in his opinion, the High Marshal's intention when he sent him there. All of this contributed to his disposition and influenced his conduct and the decisions he took during the Battle of Helsreach.The last of the Imperial forces to arrive in Helsreach was the Legio Invigilata. A third of the Titan Legion under the command of Princeps Majoris Zarha Mancion was stationed a short distance north from the hive city and was preparing to move out -- although the princeps had not yet decided whether the battlegroup would defend Helsreach, or if it would be joining its kin in the Hemlock region.When Grimaldus learned of this, he contacted Valian Carsomir, moderati primus of the Imperator-class Titan Stormherald and Zarha Mancion's representative to Helsreach, and demanded to speak with the princeps majoris. The xenos would inevitably bring their own Gargants into the fray, and without Mechanicus Titans Helsreach would be doomed.As such, when Grimaldus was refused, he decided to venture to the Legio Invigilata staging ground accompanied by several of his knights, and enforce an audience. When he arrived there, no-one sought to stop them until they reached the feet of the Stormherald, where a dozen Skitarii denied them entry.Grimaldus and his Astartes were furious at such treatment of the Emperor's finest, and were prepared to destroy the Tech-Guard, but in the last moment, the princeps majoris remotely ordered the Skitarii to stand down and grant the Reclusiarch entry.When Grimaldus arrived in Mancion's command chamber, she bade him plainly state his request. The Reclusiarch asked if she would fight for Helsreach and, for reasons known only to her, she agreed.Three solar days later the hive city shook with the steps of god-engines as the Titan battlegroup entered through the northern gates. The city was finally sealed and braced itself for the coming onslaught.And as night fell, the sky caught fire.