The Ultramarines 4th Company: The Vanguard of the Emperor
In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war, and no one knows this better than the Ultramarines 4th Company. When the Tyranid hive fleet attacked, the 4th Company, at full strength, had suffered the fewest casualties. They were the first to be called upon to liberate Vaughn’s World, a shrine world of the Ecclesiarchy, fallen to the hands of the orc warlord known as the Arch Maniac of Cabella.
The Arch Maniac had seized Vaughn’s World, enslaving its population and desecrating the holy temples of the Emperor. A sacred world, tarnished by such barbarity, could not stand. With the task of its liberation, Captain Idaas led his warriors into battle. He employed a combination of strict adherence to the Codex Astartes and an uncanny ability to adapt to rapidly changing battlefield conditions. This strategy enabled the Ultramarines to bypass many orc strongpoints and dismantle critical elements of their defenses.
With the orcs preoccupied with hunting down the Space Marine Raiders, the mass tank companies and regiments of the Astra Militarum Jovian Hussar overwhelmed the greenskins with unusually low casualties. During the cleansing of Vaughn’s World, a young Space Marine named Uriel Ventris caught Idaas’s attention.
Uriel, a descendant of the legendary Lucian Ventris, demonstrated exemplary courage, even among warriors for whom heroic feats were commonplace. After his Sergeant was killed by an orc warlord, Uriel took command of his squad, exhibiting the qualities that would one day lead him to command the 4th Company himself.
With the liberation of Vaughn’s World complete, the Ultramarines’ next mission was to secure the borders of Ultramar. For the next five standard years, the company patrolled the northern boundaries of their realm, conducting interdiction attacks and boarding actions against all encountered raiders aboard the Vi Victus, an esteemed strike cruiser commanded by Captain Llo Tiberius, a scarred veteran of the Tyranid wars.
The 4th Company destroyed over 300 enemy vessels, achieving the highest number of kills to be added to their company Chapel Banner over the following years. They regained their strength and inducted many new members, once back to full combat readiness. The company was deemed fit for duties beyond the borders of Ultramar in the Marinus Core. There, they earned the gratitude of the Adeptus Mechanicus by boarding and destroying the space hulk Flame of Iniquity, a gargantuan amalgamation of derelict starships that threatened several Forge Worlds.
The determination and courage of the 4th Company caught the attention of Inquisitor Marov who required warriors of such skill. He petitioned Marneus Calgar, the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, for assistance in a matter of grave urgency. Calgar consented, and the 4th Company was seconded into the Inquisition’s service, dispatched to the world of Epsilon Regalis, a world later made infamous by the witch hunter Tyrus.
The 4th Company faced the Tyranids once more on the world of Ecar 4 when the Tyranids returned with Hive Fleet Kraken. Unlike the battering ram approach of Hive Fleet Behemoth, Kraken attacked in a series of smaller yet equally lethal splinter fleets, advancing across a much wider front. Many of these fleets were destroyed, proving once more the indomitable spirit of the 4th Company. These are the tales of the Ultramarines 4th Company, the vanguard of the Emperor, the defenders of mankind. Their story continues…
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