The forces of the Orks, seeing the Traitor legions had the same idea as they did for the Hive, rushed forward in a great Waaaaaagh! The forces of Chaos were not to be denied and both armies threw themselves upon the defenses of Artemis Hive. Artillery thundered into the ranks of approaching aliens, the Vindicators of the Black Templars blowing apart huge units of Ork Boyz. The Ultramarines surged forward to meet the hated forces of the Angels of Rapture, bolters, flamers and chainswords seeking a blessed end to the foul traitors. From elevated positions along the Hive walls, Space Marine scouts sniped enemy leaders, sowing confusion in the ranks of the Orks, even as the Traitor Guard continued their bombardment! Chaos tainted Hellhounds surged forward, ancient melta guns reducing the Ultramarine tanks to piles of molten slag. Hordes of Bloodletters surged forward to engage the crews of the destroyed tanks, even as the Land Raiders of the Ultramarines ground forward. At a turning point of the battle, a squad of Angels of Rapture Terminators teleports into the heart of the Ultramarine position, bolters scything down defenders as their lighting claws began to glow. Perjurious had seen this tactic used by the Traitor Legionnaires once before and had prepared for the move. The Angels were met by squads of Ultramarine 1st company Terminators that lumbered into battle from their transports, their power fists soon reducing the traitors to a bloody pulp, even as many of them were themselves disemboweled by lighting claws that slashed through their armored bodies. No less than 30 Terminators dueled to the death as the battle raged around them. Ork mobs overran the defenders south of the Hive and entered the Hive proper, choppas waving and trukks belching smoke. 

They didn’t sense the rumblings in the ground around them as they moved in for the kill. Squads of Ultramarines were set upon and the Ork wall was pushing the Ultramarines back towards their staging area. Several Ork Battle wagons lumbered into view, dozens of Boyz hanging on the crude frame, shootas blazing! Just as they rounded the street before the Genetorium, the wagons were blasted asunder by the screaming arrival of the Blood Angel Thunderhawks, Commander Dante himself, along with his Honor Guard and dozens of squads of Assault Marines plowed into the advancing Ork lines, powers swords and bolt pistols driving the aliens back. Captain Lycar of the Black Templars and his bodyguard of Terminators emerged from their Land Raider and assailed the Ork Warboss. Thunder Hammer glanced off Power Claw, Power Claw glanced off Thunder Shield as the two leaders clashed. As the battle wore on, the Warboss slipped on the accumulated ice and blood. This was all the opening Lycar needed. He swung his thunder hammer downwards, the Ork leaders head exploding in a burst of gore and metal. As the Ork dropped, his nearby boyz lost heart and began to retreat. A ragged cheer went up from the refugees and defenders as the Ork fell, even as screams of warning failed to reach the ears of Lycar. The shadow cast by the Bloodthrister blotted out the feeble sunlight, even as it raised its mighty axe to split the Marine in twain. As Lycar spun to face the new foe, he knew he would not be in time to deflect the blow even as he brought his shield around to his front. Suddenly the Bloodthrister dropped its axe from numb hands and toppled forward into the snow, dead! Looking past the Bloodthrister, Lycar saw the thumbs up from a squad of Ultramarine snipers, which even now were searching for new targets. The back of the head of Khorne demon had been blown out, the vile fluids staining the snows red! 

As the tide of battle turned once more in the favor of the Imperium, new reserves of Ultramarines moved to the front, bolters tearing holes in the remaining Orks, while they fought sword to sword with the Angels of Rapture. For their part, the followers of Slaneesh fought with all the ferocity of the Khorne demons, scything down Loyalists with glee. Commander Dante and his marines continued to harry the Orks, cutting down Tankbustas, Stormboys and Nobz as the murderous greenskins fell back. A thundering burst from the Traitor Guard Basilisks rained down upon his position, many of his warriors being destroyed in a blast of heavy shelling. Remaining Orks did drive by shoota attacks upon the survivors, even Dante himself falling to the thunderous firepower the Orks were packing. Even as he fell, a force of Killa Kans overran the defensive lines, hacking apart Black Templars, while cackling Tankbsutas moved into position to assault the enemy tanks. A force of Bloodletters fell upon Lycar and his remaining guards. The ensuing combat was bloody as sword strokes were parried, counter parried and returned. Even as mighty a warrior as he was, Lycar soon found himself alone against the demons and fell beneath a flurry of chopping blades. Ordering the reserves in from the south, Perjurious joined his troops as they threw back the invaders, spent bolter cartridges lining the bloody street as the force of demons lost hold on their forms and began to disappear into the warp. Seeing the Orks still fighting but reduced in number and isolated into small pockets of resistance, the Angels of Rapture decided they had had enough of this planet and withdrew to their transport ships. 

The battle for Artemis Hive was won! 

Cheers went out among the victors as more reinforcements arrived from space. The battle, though costly, had been won. Soon the flag of the Ultramarines was raised above Artemis Hive, along with the flag of the 27th Combined Arms Division. A gesture that the Ultramarines found to be highly justified and well deserved! As the victors consolidated their win, the western horizon was lit by balefire and smoke. The peaks their tumbled into the ground as more fissures opened in the ice, kilometer wide tracks of land tumbling into the bubbling magma abyss. As the defenders stared on, awestruck, a might Blackstone Fortress bubbled up from the lava, here forcefields sparking from the heat, her hull glowing super-heated white! The alien artifact hovered in few for several minutes, Ork Fight Bommas making failed strafing runs against it as there were burned up in the shields of the craft. Then with a hum that grew to deafening proportions, the craft screamed into orbit and disappeared. It seemed as if the Night Lords had achieved their objective on Megiddo Prime.

In the aftermath of the war, Commander Dante and Captain Lycar were found among the dead and wounded and the Apothecaries from over a dozen chapters fought for the right to restore these two warriors to health. The 27th Combined Arms Division was credited with turning the war, Lord Commander Isen was awarded the Emperor’s Cross. In terms of lives lost, the final numbers were in the hundreds of thousands, both civilian and military. The remaining Orks fled the planet surface in crude transports and commandeered craft. Many were shot down by the Imperial Navy, the rest dispersed among the stars. The Traitor Guard surrendered at Zebra Station and were incarcerated in the Penal Colony under the tender mercies of the Inquisition. Exterminous was halted and Megiddo Prime was gradually restored to the Emperor’s light. Tithes were reestablished and within ten years after the wars end, she became once more an Imperial World, with all the rights and privileges accorded. A force of Ultramarines established a permanent garrison on Hoarfrost Ridge, Captain Perjurious himself blessed the facility before leaving Megiddo Prime. 

As he moved to board his transport ship, the Captain stooped, removed his gauntlet, and picked up a handful of fresh snow. As he let the flakes fall between his fingers, he gazed first to the west and then to the stars. The Night Lords had used the war here as a mere distraction for them to find and recover an ancient and secreted Blackstone Fortress. In their hands now was a powerful artifact that would be turned to vile uses. What dire consequences would this mean for the Imperium, he wondered as he walked up the ramp, that closed behind him with a final metallic clang...