www.slogaming.net

I'll post background and fluff stories here. I'll have some time over this summer to write some stuff.

“I am the Hammer.
I am the right hand of my Emperor, I am the instrument of His will.
I am the Hammer.
I am the point of His sword. I am the tip of His spear.
I am the gauntlet about His fist. I am His sword just as He is my armour, I am His wrath just as He is my zeal.
I am the Hammer.
I am the hate. I am the woes of daemonkind.
Let us be His shield as He is our armour. Let us speak His word as He fuels the fire of our devotion.
Let us fight His battles as He fights the battle at the end of time, and let us join Him there, for duty ends not in death!
I am the Hammer!
I am the gauntlet about His fist! I am the spear in His hand!
Though we are lost, I am the shield on His arm, I am the flight of His arrows!
I am the Hammer!
I am the sword! I am the soldier of the battle at the end of time! I am the bane of His foes and the woes of daemonkind!
I am the end, for I am the Hammer!"

Grand Master Titus raised his head and made the sign of the Aquila, ending the battle rites. At the symbol, the Grey Knights kneeling in front of him responded with their own signs. Titus rose, giving the other Knights leave to prepare to teleport into battle. They had spent the last hour carefully preparing for battle, performing blessing and cleaning rituals on their equipment, and double checking the final details of their battle plan.

They had very little intelligence to go off of, so Titus was particularly concerned for this mission. Inquisitor Tiberius had uncovered information leading him to a widespread secret society dedicated to chaos, possibly created by Traitor Marines, probably Alpha Legion. That was even further cause of worry. Even though there would be no way for the coven to know the Grey Knights were coming, the Alpha Legion was notorious for its ability to make the unexpected happen.

So Titus had made sure to take extra care in planning this assault, and had called in an extra squad of Grey Knights, led by Justicar Altarius, who had been operating in a nearby sector. The chaos cult had a wide influence, and had begun to summon daemons for Emperor knows what vile purposes. Had Inquisitor Tiberius not uncovered the cult, they might have been able to gain enough daemonic support to corrupt and overthrow the planetary government, especially if they had the aid of Chaos Marines.

The mission was fairly simple. They had uncovered the coordinates for the main altar used by the cult, though there were certainly other. Tiberius was in the process of tracking down several leads, and would requisition the necessary troops to destroy the other altars. But this altar was in a chaos stronghold. It was a large palace, owned by a wealthy citizen, part of the local nobility. He owned massive tracts of land, providing food for large parts of the planet. Tiberius had been unable to discover whether or not the lord himself was involved in the cult, but that was not Titus' concern. He merely had to destroy evil where he saw it, for he was the hammer. He had no time to consider whom was innocent and who was guilt, only to destroy the blasphemous rot of chaos wherever he found it.

In total, Titus led a force of 21 Grey Knights. He would personally lead the four man Terminator squad into battle, teleporting directly into the chamber containing the altar. Justicar Severus would lead four other Grey Knights in behind Titus, and immediately perform sanctifying rituals on the altar, and any other chaos artifacts they found. Justicar Altarius and Justicar Gaius would teleport into adjacent chambers, cutting off any enemy in the altar chamber for Titus to deal with, while securing the perimeter from any enemy counter attack. This would be one of the largest assaults that Titus had lead, second only to the final battle at the Siege of New Odessa, where he had fought alongside a detachment of Blood Angels led by Mephiston and personally banished the Daemon Prince Abraham to the warp. It had been during that campaign he had been promoted to Grand Master, and he had immediately been thrust into responsibilities of the rank.

“Prepare to teleport. Get into position, and begin your squad's psychic link. Remember our mission, and fight with the Emperor's strength.” Titus and his retinue of terminators stepped up into the teleportation platform. Titus extended his psychic senses, touching the minds of his fellow Grey Knights. He automatically dropped into the instinctive psychic chant of the Shrouding, steeling his mind to the warp powers flowing through him. One of the Grey Knight's greatest advantages was their immense psychic power, and a full squad of Grey Knights could emit such a powerful psychic aura that their very presence would be painful to their enemy, especially to Daemons. The ability had saved Titus' life many times before, as enemies would falter and stumble in the middle of combat from such a powerful psychic distortion.

“Teleport in five,” said the Mechanicus crewman manning the teleport equipment. “Emperor be with you. Two... One... Go.” Titus felt the very fabric of reality rend, and through his psychic link to the warp he felt himself thrust through into the psychic plane. The corruption threatening his mind suddenly surged, pressing his will from all directions, physically now as well as mentally. But he redoubled his concentration, and focused his mind on the coordinates of the altar chamber. Wielding his full psychic might, he reached out and anchored himself and his squad to the physical position of the chamber, preventing the squad from appearing in the middle of a stone wall. Then, almost before he could feel the tentacles of warp entities wrap around him, he reappeared in the physical world, in the center of a grand but obscene chamber, facing a congregation of chaos worshipers in the midst of dark prayer.

“WE ARE THE HAMMER,” Titus yelled, raising his storm bolter and depressing the firing stud. The stiff recoil of the fully automatic weapon was easily controlled by his suit of terminator armor, and he swept his sector of the room with high explosive bolts. Bringing his blessed Nemesis Force Sword to bear, crackling with blue lightning, Titus charged forward, moving swiftly for being in such massive armor. Several chaos worshipers had drawn weapons, knives and pistols, but Titus hit the small mob like a raging bull, crushing several with the shear mass of his armor. He felt las pistol bolts and knives bounce of the near invulnerable terminator armor, but ignored them. Simultaneously firing his storm bolter at point blank range and slashing powerfully with his sword, he cut down the few remaining worshipers in a heartbeat. Spinning while reaching out with his psychic senses, he saw that the rest of his squad had slain the rest of the worshipers. Most had been killed by either storm bolter and psycannon fire or the flames of Brother Iilias' Incinerator, before they had even know what was happening. Titus felt no pity for them, though, for they had brought this upon themselves.

“Gaius in place, Grand Master,” came crackling over the vox system built into his suit. A split second later, he heard Altarius call in, and felt the air next to him shimmer and warp, as Justicar Severus and his squad appeared, just as Titus had arrived. Nodding to the Grand Master, Severus immediately sprinted to the altar, starting the cleansing incantations and rituals. Severus was as courageous a Knight as Titus had ever know, and had served under Titus for as long as Titus had held a commanding rank. Titus had even granted Severus a position in his personal retinue after a battle at the Siege of New Odessa, when Severus led his squad to kill a twisted Daemon Prince, then had personally banished a Bloodthirster shortly thereafter. Severus had graciously declined the honor, feeling his place was leading a squad of Grey Knights, rather than following Titus into battle. Titus was almost glad he had declined, as Severus was his most skilled squad leader, and it would have been a loss to take him out of the chain of command, though Titus was certain that Severus would have quickly earned the honor of the rank of Brother Captain.

Then, Titus heard Gaius' voice come in over the vox. “Grand Master, I'm sensing a powerful presence nearby. I think they have daemon-bound warriors.”

Titus nodded to his squad. They had planned for a counter attack. Aldric and Caldus took up position to defend Severus' squad, while Titus led the rest of his squad into the next room. Not even bothering to use the door, Titus smashed straight through the thin wood wall. The nobleman who owned the palace wasn't so rich he could afford the marble to make solid stone walls.

Stepping into the next room, Titus saw several dead bodies, torn apart by Nemesis Force Weapons and Storm Bolter fire. Gaius' squad was deployed in two three man teams, each with a psycannon, covering one of the two doors on the other sides of the room. One of the doors was little more than a crumbling hole in the wall, as the Grey Knights had cut down several cultists either entering the room or fleeing it, Titus couldn't tell.

Seeing Titus, Justicar Gaius pointed. “Through that wall, Grand Master.” Extending his senses, Titus explored the other room mentally. He could sense more clearly what was there than Gaius, but he knew instantly that Gaius was right. Motioning to Gaius, Titus nodded at the wall. “Spray down the room, and I will teleport in.” Reaching out to the other Knights in his squad, Titus focused his mental energy. Normally, specialized equipment was needed for teleportation, but Titus was an immensely powerful psyker, and could control the teleportation rift well enough to travel short distances, as well as prevent himself from mishapping and materializing in the middle of a solid object. He concentrated over the hammering firepower of the storm bolters and psycannons tearing through the wall, raining bolts into the other room. Despite the hailstorm of psychically charged high explosive bolts, Titus still felt the chaotic presence. Then, in a disorienting split second, Titus and his squad stepped through a portal in reality, another short travel through the warp. Well disciplined, Gaius and the rest of his squad stopped firing, returning to their defensive positions.

The instant Titus felt himself materialize, he spun, focusing in on the chaotic presence. He found himself face to face with a hulking mutation, covered in warped muscle and overgrown armor. Possessed! There are Chaos Marines here! The possessed marine roared, dashing forward in a rage at Titus. Titus brought his sword to bear, spinning expertly to avoid the possessed's slashing claws, simultaneously sweeping his sword up, severing one of the possessed's warped arms from its body. A split second later, its face was shredded by point blank storm bolter fire by Lucius, while Iilias impaled the beast with his Force Halberd. Even then, the warped creature continued to convulse, until Iilias ignited with a burst of purifying fire from his incinerator. Iilias looked from the charred corpse at Titus. “Chaos Marines. Unknown armor markings, which means its probably Alpha Legion.” Titus nodded.

Opening a line on his vox, he signaled his men. “Chaos Marines, probably Alpha Legion. Mission priority change, Sierra Delta. Severus, finish up, then we are changing the plan to search and destroy. We now have a bigger target. Titus out.”

Once finals are over, I'll do some more.

When Grey Knight Grand Master Mandellus recived a warning of a possible daemonic incursion at the planet of New Odessus, Mandellus immediately organized a strike force to respont to the threat. Calling upon all the Grey knights within range, he assembles a force of nearly 50 Grey Knights, and led them to the Odessus system. They arrived just in time to respond to an invasion of Chaos Space Marines, led by a Daemon Prince of Nurgle, an Iron Warriors Warsmith and their daemonic allies. Recognizing the importance of containing the Daemonic prescense, he dispatched his second in command, Brother Captain Titus, to seal one of the main Daemon Gates, while he organized several other surgical strikes on other Daemonic forces.

Titus was unable to destroy the daemon gate, though his assault resulted in the banishment of the Bloodthirster Maln'taron and many other lesser daemons. Falling back, Titus met with the other Imperial commanders charged with defending New Odessus, including Mephiston and a company of Blood Angels, and Inquisitor Rambo leading a requisitioned Imperial Guard regiment.

Titus led an armored convoy to one of the nearby cities, excorting a Caledux assassin with valuable information. They were ambushed by a superior force of Iron Warriors lead by their Warsmith Abraham, who managed to destroy the sample, but was nearly slain in personal combat by Titus, and only escaped with his life when a Defiler severly wounded Titus.

Despite his sever injuries, Titus returned to battle, sucessfully defending a Holy Temple guarded by a coven of Sisters of Battle from another Iron Warriors attack, while at the same time other imperial forces brought the rest of the chaotic invasion to a standstill. Again he met Warsmith Abraham in single combat, drawing the Warsmith into the sights of one of the Grey Knight land raiders. Though Titus was defeated due to his sever injuries, the Land Raider Daemon's Bane cut down Abraham with its lascannons, nearly killing him.

Mandellus, impressed with Titus's conviction and sacrifice, convened with a council of other Grand Masters. They unanimously agreed to grant Titus the rank of Grand Master, despite the early setbacks in the daemonic purge. Grand Master Titus was granted command of all Grey Knight forces on New Odessus, while Grand Master Mandellus focused his attentions on the other planets in the system, also under chaos attack.

The faltering chaos forces launched a massive assault on the Imperial position. Summoning a horde of mighty Daemons, led by the mighty Bloodthirster Aan'grath, one of Khorne's mightiest servants, they bore down on Imperial lines. The chaos forces managed to drive back the Imperial forces in the battle, narrowly securing control of the planet. The one ray of light for the Imperium that day, however, came from Titus himself. Weilding a blessed sword and armor granted to him by the Ecclesiasty in thanks for defending their sacred temple, Titus personally banished the Daemon Aan'grath with the help of his personal retinue of terminators and some courageous Ogryn's. Though the forces of chaos had won the day, the Daemonic threat had been mostly netrulized, and the chaos marines foothold was tenious. Following many months of hard fought battles on the neighboring planets, the forces of the Imperium were able to reclaim New Odessus and drive the forces of chaos from the system, though at great cost.

After the system was cleansed, Grand Master Mandellus granted Grand Master Titus full command of the Grey Knight forces in the sector. Though Grey Knights operate in small, autonomous units, Titus would have the authority to recall all Grey Knight forces in the face of a greater threat, such as another chaos invasion. Titus was given access to all necessary materiel and equipment to deploy his men as he saw fit. And thus was born the 8th Armored Strike Force.