The greenskins had been spotted, and they were coming.

In the main village hall, a meeting was underway to discuss the emergency. Forward spotters of the village had noticed a marauding group of Orks on bikes heading their way, much faster than expected.

In the midst of the frenzied discussion, a loud explosion suddenly erupted from behind the village. Fearing the worst, the villagers stormed out and watched in horror as they saw a trail of smoke in the sky that led to a huge cloud of smoke and dust that rose from one of the grox pens.

A little while later, a boy ran over from the direction of the smoking site shouting, ‘I saw it, an angel is here!’

‘What are you saying, boy?’ People started asking, but the overly excited boy was almost incomprehensible as he kept repeating his statement about an angel’s arrival.

They did not have to wait long for their answer. Soon, a series of loud stomps could be heard getting closer and closer. The villagers went quiet and their jaws dropped as a four-metre tall metallic monstrosity stomped out from the wall of dust and came into full view.

The newcomer reminded the villagers of those fancy powerlifter sentinel walkers used in big cities, but it was much bigger and bulkier, plus it was clearly armed. Impervious-looking matte black armoured plates covered much of its torso and legs. A huge silver gun barrel was mounted on where its right arm would be, balanced by a massive silver metallic fist on its left arm.

It strode forward purposefully, every powerful step pounding at the villagers’ hearts. Fortunately it looked nothing like the invading aliens nor had it started attacking. The proud, chrome finished imperial aquila etched into its centre armour plate also quietly assured the villagers that the walker was supposed to be on their side.

‘This… this is a dreadnought of the Emperor’s Astartes!’ A scholar exclaimed his recognition and dropped to his knees, prompting the others to quickly follow his example. Vaax took note of the scholar who had called out what he was. This was highly unusual, most citizens of Imperium went through their mundane lives without ever laying their eyes on an Astartes in real life, let alone able to correctly name their war machines.

For a split second Vaax wondered if the man was but a simple villager before deciding to ignore the question. One could say at this point in time Vaax’s opinion about the majority of his proto species was quite low. With the exception of a few remarkable individuals like the occasional inquisitors Vaax had come in contact with, humanity did not impress him. Humans are generally frail, slow, and fearful, to say nothing of how they spend their life in inefficient cycles of nutrient intake, waste elimination and long periods of sleep.

Vaax ignored all the kneeling down villagers and updated his mission priority. He was to attempt to contact his chapter first, then relocate to the closest strategic battle zone as soon as possible. The dreadnought made a mental note to find and dispense the appropriate punishment if this mishap was a mistake committed by some incompetent fool; such weakness could not to be tolerated. Vaax was still walking away when one of the villagers approached him.

>>>ACTIVE AUSPEX ON>>>

Just in case, the dreadnought readied his storm bolter while he ran a quick scan on the approaching human. The scan revealed the man to be unarmed, so his approach was tolerated.

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The dreadnought found his curiosity mildly piqued as the feeble man continued to get closer, typically most humans would not even dare to get in his way and the auspex readings had confirmed that the man was clearly nervous.

‘My Lord! Bless the Emperor, you are here just in time!’ The man cried out, his Low Gothic thick with a local accent. Vaax heard and understood but was still ignoring the human until the man’s next statement, ‘Lord, please help us! We were supposed to evacuate but the greenskin aliens are right at our doorstep and will be here soon!’

The dreadnought stopped walking and swirled his massive torso to face the puny, trembling man, and then hesitated. It had been almost a hundred years since Vaax had last spoken to a human, and at this point in time he would rather not speak to one if he could help it. But the mission priority of purging Xenos came first so the dreadnought’s harsh voice boomed in the dusty air.

‘Where are these greenskins?’

Moments later, a towering Vaax had all the information he needed from the shivering and fidgety humans around him. It was understood that an Ork warband, led by a particularly large specimen of their kind, was heading right their way and would reach shortly.

All the villagers could muster were a few dozen individuals vouched to be seasoned and capable hunters, armed with antique lasguns. The dreadnought quietly observed these men and women, noting with silent approval the practised ease about the way they handled their weapons. Through his sensor readings, Vaax also noted the hunters had relatively lower heart rates compared to the rest of the civilians.

In the light of this Vaax had some degree of confidence in the hunters’ marksmanship capabilities, but had little to no expectations from them when combat began. In Vaax’s mind, if he could trade a notable Ork’s life for those of the whole village, it would still be considered a victory.

The dreadnought calculated the odds and concluded that a direct engagement would yield almost certain defeat, unless… Vaax started looking around the village, taking note of its layout and key features to even out the odds for the impending clash. It was kind of refreshing, it had been centuries since Vaax had led a mission.

Vaax ran his calculus on the scenario again. While his own encounters with the Orks were relatively few, Vaax knew the greenskins and their weaknesses well; the greenskins were one of the most well documented hostile alien species in the Imperium.

While the dreadnought silently contemplated the best action to take with the pieces in play, the villagers waited patiently despite their anxious concern. In truth Vaax had not a single shred of care for the people around him, but in cold Medusan logic he knew getting their fullest corporation would aid him in his mission. Vaax himself was a space marine ages ago and knew the value of good speeches, so he contemplated further on how to address the villagers.

‘Citizens,’ Vaax spoke after deciding on his words, and everyone present immediately visibly straightened. ‘I will be blunt,’ the dreadnought continued with his deep synthetic voice, ‘we are facing a detachment of marauding Xenos. These … green skin aliens, these Orks might look like simple brutes but they are actually quite cunning, and they are strong. In fact, each of them are as strong as my brothers in terms of raw strength, your odds of surviving a direct fight is almost nonexistent.’

The crowd gasped but Vaax continued, sounding remorseless and unyielding. ‘You can run, but the aliens are fast on their war bikes and will chase you down. Or you can fight, for I am here and will be fighting these aliens who dare to defile the Emperor’s domain.’

The dreadnought paused, letting the weight of his words settle before throwing out the planned bait. ‘Follow my lead. I will maximise your advantage to exploit the aliens’ weaknesses. By the Emperor’s grace, some of you may yet live. What say you?’

Facing alien enemies at their gate with everything at stake, no sane Imperial citizen in their right mind would refuse such an offer from one of the Emperor’s finest. A brief moment later the villagers came to an unanimous decision as they all agreed to wager everything on Vaax’s leadership.

‘Lord, our lives are in your hands.’ The village chief announced.