Battle of Helsreach - True Storm: Zarha Mancion, the Crone of the Legio Invigilata, soon learned about the Reclusiarch's exploits and demanded his presence on the Stormherald. The Ordinatus Armageddon was a relic sacred to the Cult Mechanicus, and could only be awakened by the lord of the Centurio Ordinatus -- for its tomb to be infiltrated by outsiders, let alone for Oberon to be attempted to be reactivated without proper ministrations was grave blasphemy to all followers of the Machine God.Mancion had received orders from her superiors to either make the Reclusiarch abandon this course of action or to see him terminated. Despite her wrath, she attempted to convince Grimaldus to cease this quest, as it would tear Mechanicus forces on the world apart, but to no avail.When the final threat had to be spoken, the Chaplain instead retorted with his own -- he called four of his Thunderhawk gunships which he had ordered to prepare for this action beforehand to fly towards the Titan and acquire target locks on its bridge, allowing them to obliterate it long before Void Shields could be raised if such an order was given.In the end bloodshed was averted, as both sides reached a tense compromise, for the good of Helsreach -- the lord of the Centurio Ordinatus was en route to Armageddon, and were he to arrive in time the entire matter would be far less grave. In case he were not to, however, Jurisian would continue his labours unabated, even though he would likely be unable to activate the Ordinatus.Although fragile, such an agreement allowed both sides to participate in the battle as allies, especially so since Jurisian's intial estimates appeared to be too optimistic, for the code protecting the artefact changed and evolved like a living being, and the Master of the Forge deemed it might take him solar months or even standard years.Soon afterwards, the Orks, with their newest reinforcements arrayed and their massive Gargants readied, were prepared to bring down the city's walls. Guardsmen vacated the battlements before the inevitable shelling and took up positions in the streets and buildings. Soon, the walls fell under the fury of the Gargants, and the first xenos Titans walked into the city only to be blasted by Imperial god-engines.The first charge of the Greenskins was broken by the Black Templars under their Reclusiarch's command, but eventually the Astartes had to return behind Astra Militarum lines and let the true war of attrition begin.Every road was barricaded and manned by Armageddon Steel Legion troopers. Snipers would provide deadly support from rooftops. Battle tanks of every type drove through the streets, gunning down the xenos as they poured into the hive city.During the preparations for the battle the populace was removed from the outlying sectors of the city to allow the soldiers the room to manouvre and withdraw. In the beginning of the siege proper, the Guardsmen were to inflict as much damage on the enemy as possible, before withdrawing to the next position, letting the xenos purchase these worthless outskirts with their blood.During this time Commander Barasath carried out his proposed plan to strike against the Orks' aerial capabilities. Earlier, he attempted to convince Colonel Sarren to allow him to execute what was in essence a suicidal attack -- he planned to engage in dogfights above the bulk of Ork forces and allow bombers to break through and perform bombing runs on enemy airstrips.Not only would this deprive the Greenskins of any meaningful air power in the beginning stages of the battle, but also any aircraft to be shot down -- likely all committed to the action -- would fall down upon enemy forces and contribute to increasing their casualties rather than allied if they were to fight over the city.Sarren was initially reluctant to agree, however, upon hearing Barasath's (false) assurance that Grimaldus had endorsed this manouvre, he allowed for this action to take place.Soon after, Barasath's wings were flying over the plains before Helsreach and although his forces succeeded in their endeavour, they were predictably overcome.At this point, one thing should be noted of Princeps Majoris Zarha Mancion -- the Stormherald 's Machine Spirit was resentful at being bound to its princeps, and for the long years of their enforced cooperation it had patiently weakened Mancion's mental resolve, seeking to finally drown her in its mindscape -- an effort only made easier as she aged.The Titan's efforts caused Mancion to lack complete control of her thoughts, the flood of the Titan's mental gestalt making her undertake brazen actions. The first such occurrence took place when one of the Legio Invigilata 's god-engines fell. The Reaver-class Titan Draconian fell to a crude Ork trap which brought the great war engine down and allowed the Greenskins to butcher its crew.The Titan's death cry rang through the MIU Manifold and, through the medium that was the Stormherald 's Machine Spirit, cast Mancion into a vengeful sorrow. While still partly under the control of the Titan's Machine Spirit,  Mancion's war engine strode ahead of her screening force and Skitarii escort in an attempt to avenge the Draconian and its crew -- only to fall to a similar Ork trap moments later.The damage inflicted by the Greenskins and the shame of defeat caused her to loosen her grip on the recalcitrant Titan's Machine Spirit -- and be very nearly overwhelmed by it. The Titan and its princeps would have been lost had it not been for the intervention of a Black Templars strike force under the command of Reclusiarch Grimaldus.The Astartes cleansed the god-engine of xenos taint and their Chaplain helped Zarha Mancion emerge from the psychic maelstrom that is a Titan's mental landscape. The princeps, however, was by no means unscathed by the experience.The city's defence carried on, and throughout the following days Imperial forces retreated steadily according to plan, whittling down the advancing tide of Greenskins, setting up ambushes, performing pincer manouvres against salients, encircling those Ork elements that proved too brazen and destroying them -- but retreated nonetheless.The city stood against impossible odds, and having it endure siege warfare for as long as it did was no small feat in itself.Colonel Sarren had all the right to colour his bitterness with a sense of pride when, on the eighteenth solar day of the battle, he voxed the last command to be issued from the central command spire before it was abandoned: All units in Omega Sector, Subsector Nine, the location where the line was breached for the first time, were to abandon fallback orders and retreat to contingency positions.The enemy had reached Hel's Highway.